Synthesis and antiviral study of novel 4-(2-(6-amino-4-oxo-4,5-dihydro-1H-pyrrolo[2,3-d]pyrimidin-3-yl)ethyl)benzamide derivatives

Abstract

A series of ten new compounds (7a–j) has been synthesized by absolutely replacing the glutamic acid part of Pemetrexed drug, chemically known as N-{4-[2-(2-amino-4-oxo-4,7-dihydro-3H-pyrrolo[2,3-d]pyrimidin-5-yl)ethyl]benzoyl}-l-glutamic acid, with primary, secondary, and aryl amines in high yields using diethylphosphorocyanidate (DEPC) as a peptide coupling agent. All the synthesized compounds are characterized by ¹H and ¹³C NMR, LCMS, and FT-IR spectral techniques. All the synthesized novel non-glutamate 4-(2-(6-amino-4-oxo-4,5-dihydro-1H-pyrrolo[2,3-d]pyrimidin-3-yl)ethyl)benzamide derivatives showed 4- to 7-folds higher antiviral activity than its structurally similar commercial drug Pemetrexed against Newcastle disease virus, an avian paramyxovirus. Among the lot, compounds possessing carboxamide synthesized using five-membered heteroaryl amines (7i and 7j) exhibited the highest antiviral activity.