Phosphonoamidate prodrugs of C5-substituted pyrimidine acyclic nucleosides for antiviral therapy

- Synthesis of phosphonoamidate and diamidates prodrugs of C5-pyrimidine acyclic nucleosides phosphonate.
- Antiviral activity is comparable and in some cases, better than bis-POM analogues.
- Phosphonoamidate inhibit HCMV.

Acyclic nucleoside phosphonates (ANPs) are nowadays one of the key drugs in the treatment of DNA virus and retrovirus infections. In this work, we report the synthesis and antiviral evaluation of phosphonoamidate and diamidates prodrugs of C5-pyrimidine acyclic nucleosides derivatives functionalized with but-2-enyl- chain. In the phosphonoamidate series, the most active compound 15, showed sub-micromolar activity against varicella zoster virus (VZV) (EC50 = 0.09-0.5 μM) and μM activity against human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) and herpes simplex virus (HSV). Separation of single diastereoisomers for compound 14, showed that 14b had better anti-herpesvirus activity and no cytotoxicity compared to the diastereoisomeric mixture 14. Very interestingly, phosphonodiamidate 21 showed anti-herpesvirus activity with excellent activity against wild type and thymidine kinase-deficient (TK−) VZV strains (EC50 = 0.47 and 0.2 μM, respectively) and HCMV (EC50 = 3.5-7.2 μM) without any cytotoxicity (CC50 > 100).