Factor Xa (FXa), a trypsin-like serine protease, holds the central position that links the intrinsic and extrinsic mechanisms in the blood coagulation cascade. FXa is known to activate prothrombin to thrombin. Thrombin has several procoagulant functions that include the activation of platelets, feedback activation of other coagulation factors, and conversion of fibrinogen to insoluble fibrin clots. [4][5][6][7][8] Comparison of hirudin 9-13) (a thrombin inhibitor) and tick anticoagulant peptide [14][15][16][17][18][19][20] (a FXa inhibitor) suggests that inhibition of FXa may result in less bleeding risk, leading to a more favorable safety/efficacy ratio. [21][22][23][24] Direct inhibition to FXa has therefore emerged as an attractive strategy for the discovery of novel antithrombotic agents. [25][26][27][28][29][30][31] In preceding papers, 1,2) we reported the synthesis and evaluation of compounds in a series of 1-arylsulfonyl-3-piperazinone derivatives, of which M55113 (1) 4--2-piperazinecarboxylic acid were found to be potent inhibitors of FXa (IC 50 ϭ60 nM, 31 nM, 6 nM, respectively) with high selectivity for FXa over trypsin and thrombin.In more recent investigations, fixation of the conformation of testing compounds is believed to affect the strength of interaction between such compounds and the target enzyme. Accordingly, in the next stage of investigation our interest was focused on the synthesis of compounds containing a rigid structure in the central part of the compound (2, 3), and on comparison of the inhibitory activities of the compounds thus synthesized for FXa with those of previously reported compounds. A molecule with a spiro structure in between the piperidine moiety and piperazine moiety was therefore designed as the next candidate for further development of FXa inhibitor. The present paper concerns the synthesis of a series of compounds 4 with a spiro[5H-oxazolo[3,2-a]pyrazine-2(3H),4Ј-piperidin]-5-one skeleton, together with the FXa inhibitory activities of these new compounds.
ChemistryFirst, acyclic precursor 9 was prepared as shown in Chart 1. Sulfonylamidation of glycine ethyl ester hydrochloride (5) with 6-chloro-2-naphthalenesulfonyl chloride (6) under traditional conditions yielded the corresponding naphthalenesulfonylamide 7. When 7 was treated with 1-acetoxy-3-chloroacetone (8) in DMF in the presence of potassium carbonate, 9 was obtained in good yield as expected.When 4-(aminomethyl)-1-benzyl-4-piperidinol (10) was allowed to react with acyclic precursor 9 under acidic conditions, a product 11 containing a spiro N,O-acetal structure on the piperazinone ring was obtained, as expected.The reaction pathway of the formation of the spiro skeleton from 9 and 10 is illustrated in Chart 2. In the first step, a Schiff base was formed by dehydration between a carbonyl group in 9 and a primary amino group in 10. Subsequent nucleophilic addition of a hydroxyl group to an azomethine Discovery Research Center, Mochida Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd.; 722 Jimba-aza-uenohara, Gotemba, Shizuoka 412-852...