An 'inside-out' approach to suramin analogues

An approach to the synthesis of suramin analogues has been realised, which avoids synthetic problems associated with conventional routes. The use of isobutyl ester protecting groups for sulfonic acids was crucial to the success of the strategy, because these were able to be cleanly deprotected with sodium iodide, yielding the sodium salts of the corresponding sulfonic acids.

Graphical abstractDownload full-size image