SummaryTwo approaches to the synthesis of 2-chloro-9-(2-deoxy-2-fluoro-β-D-arabinofuranosyl)adenine (1, clofarabine) were studied. The first approach consists in the chemical synthesis of 2-deoxy-2-fluoro-α-D-arabinofuranose-1-phosphate (12a, 2FAra-1P) via three step conversion of 1,3,5-tri-O-benzoyl-2-deoxy-2-fluoro-α-D-arabinofuranose (9) into the phosphate 12a without isolation of intermediary products. Condensation of 12a with 2-chloroadenine catalyzed by the recombinant E. coli purine nucleoside phosphorylase (PNP) resulted in the formation of clofarabine in 67% yield. The reaction was also studied with a number of purine bases (2-aminoadenine and hypoxanthine), their analogues (5-aza-7-deazaguanine and 8-aza-7-deazahypoxanthine) and thymine. The results were compared with those of a similar reaction with α-D-arabinofuranose-1-phosphate (13a, Ara-1P). Differences of the reactivity of various substrates were analyzed by ab initio calculations in terms of the electronic structure (natural purines vs analogues) and stereochemical features (2FAra-1P vs Ara-1P) of the studied compounds to determine the substrate recognition by E. coli nucleoside phosphorylases. The second approach starts with the cascade one-pot enzymatic transformation of 2-deoxy-2-fluoro-D-arabinose into the phosphate 12a, followed by its condensation with 2-chloroadenine thereby affording clofarabine in ca. 48% yield in 24 h. The following recombinant E. coli enzymes catalyze the sequential conversion of 2-deoxy-2-fluoro-D-arabinose into the phosphate 12a: ribokinase (2-deoxy-2-fluoro-D-arabinofuranose-5-phosphate), phosphopentomutase (PPN; no 1,6-diphosphates of D-hexoses as co-factors required) (12a), and finally PNP. The substrate activities of D-arabinose, D-ribose and D-xylose in the similar cascade syntheses of the relevant 2-chloroadenine nucleosides were studied and compared with the activities of 2-deoxy-2-fluoro-D-arabinose. As expected, D-ribose exhibited the best substrate activity [90% yield of 2-chloroadenosine (8) in 30 min], D-arabinose reached an equilibrium at a concentration of ca. 1:1 of a starting base and the formed 2-chloro-9-(β-D-arabinofuranosyl)adenine (6) in 45 min, the formation of 2-chloro-9-(β-D-xylofuranosyl)adenine (7) proceeded very slowly attaining ca. 8% yield in 48 h.

We propose a new approach for the synthesis of biologically important nucleotides which includes a multi-enzymatic cascade conversion of D-pentoses into purine nucleotides. The approach exploits nucleic acid exchange enzymes from thermophilic microorganisms: ribokinase, phosphoribosylpyrophosphate synthetase, and adenine phosphoribosyltransferase. We cloned the ribokinase gene from Thermus sp. 2.9, as well as two different genes of phosphoribosylpyrophosphate synthetase (PRPP-synthetase) and the adenine phosphoribosyltransferase (APR-transferase) gene from Thermus thermophilus HB27 into the expression vectors, generated high-yield E. coli producer strains, developed methods for the purification of the enzymes, and investigated enzyme substrate specificity. The enzymes were used for the conversion of D-pentoses into 5-phosphates that were further converted into 5-phospho-α-D-pentofuranose 1-pyrophosphates by means of ribokinase and PRPP-synthetases. Target nucleotides were obtained through the condensation of the pyrophosphates with adenine and its derivatives in a reaction catalyzed by APR-transferase. 2-Chloro- and 2-fluoroadenosine monophosphates were synthesized from D-ribose and appropriate heterobases in one pot using a system of thermophilic enzymes in the presence of ATP, ribokinase, PRPP-synthetase, and APR-transferase.

A wide range of natural purine analogues was used as probe to assess the mechanism of recognition by the wild-type (WT) E. coli purine nucleoside phosphorylase (PNP) versus its Ser90Ala mutant. The results were analyzed from viewpoint of the role of the Ser90 residue and the structural features of the bases. It was found that the Ser90 residue of the PNP 1) plays an important role in the binding and activation of 8-aza-7-deazapurines in the synthesis of their nucleosides, 2) participates in the binding of α-D-pentofuranose-1-phosphates at the catalytic site of the PNP, and 3) catalyzes the dephosphorylation of intermediary formed 2-deoxy-α-D-ribofuranose-1-phosphate in the trans-2-deoxyribosylation reaction. 5-Aza-7-deazaguanine manifested excellent substrate activity for both enzymes, 8-amino-7-thiaguanine and 2-aminobenzothiazole showed no substrate activity for both enzymes. On the contrary, the 2-amino derivatives of benzimidazole and benzoxazole are substrates and are converted into the N1- and unusual N2-glycosides, respectively. 9-Deaza-5-iodoxanthine showed moderate inhibitory activity of the WT E. coli PNP, whereas 9-deazaxanthine and its 2'-deoxyriboside are weak inhibitors.

A possibility of the one-pot synthesis of purine and pyrimidine nucleosides employing pure recombinant ribokinase, phosphopentomutase and nucleoside phosphorylases in a caskade transformation of D-pentoses into nucleosides is demonstrated. Preliminary results of this study point to reliability to develop practical methods for the preparation of a number of biologically important nucleosides.

A comparative study of the possibilities of using ribokinase → phosphopentomutase → nucleoside phosphorylase cascades in the synthesis of modified nucleosides was carried out. Recombinant phosphopentomutase from Thermus thermophilus HB27 was obtained for the first time: a strain producing a soluble form of the enzyme was created, and a method for its isolation and chromatographic purification was developed. It was shown that cascade syntheses of modified nucleosides can be carried out both by the mesophilic and thermophilic routes from D-pentoses: ribose, 2-deoxyribose, arabinose, xylose, and 2-deoxy-2-fluoroarabinose. The efficiency of 2-chloradenine nucleoside synthesis decreases in the following order: Rib (92), dRib (74), Ara (66), F-Ara (8), and Xyl (2%) in 30 min for mesophilic enzymes. For thermophilic enzymes: Rib (76), dRib (62), Ara (32), F-Ara (<1), and Xyl (2%) in 30 min. Upon incubation of the reaction mixtures for a day, the amounts of 2-chloroadenine riboside (thermophilic cascade), 2-deoxyribosides (both cascades), and arabinoside (mesophilic cascade) decreased roughly by half. The conversion of the base to 2-fluoroarabinosides and xylosides continued to increase in both cases and reached 20-40%. Four nucleosides were quantitatively produced by a cascade of enzymes from D-ribose and D-arabinose. The ribosides of 8-azaguanine (thermophilic cascade) and allopurinol (mesophilic cascade) were synthesized. For the first time, D-arabinosides of 2-chloro-6-methoxypurine and 2-fluoro-6-methoxypurine were synthesized using the mesophilic cascade. Despite the relatively small difference in temperatures when performing the cascade reactions (50 and 80 °C), the rate of product formation in the reactions with Escherichia coli enzymes was significantly higher. E. coli enzymes also provided a higher content of the target products in the reaction mixture. Therefore, they are more appropriate for use in the polyenzymatic synthesis of modified nucleosides.