A number of purine sulfonamides have been synthesized mostly by the reaction of a chloropurme with sodium sulfanilamide. The compounds exhibit little or no chemotherapeutic activity.Despite the widespread use of several pyrimidine sulfonamide drugs, information on analogous compounds carrying a purine nucleus is scanty and contradictory. Since both purines and pyrimidines occur in living cells, it appeared logical to attach a purine moiety to a sulfa drug in the hope of obtaining sulfonamides with desirable properties. The synthesis of these compounds is the subject of the present communication.A few sulfonamide derivatives of the methylated xanthines have been described1 and the rather ambiguous "sulfanilyl nucleic acid" has been claimed in a patent.2 Of more interest is N^G-purinylsulfanilamide (I). Several -workers3 have reported the synthesis of I from adenine and p-acetylaminobenzenesuifonyl chloride or p-nitrobenzenesulfonyl chloride followed by hydrolysis or reduction, respectively. The compound obtained from reduction of the nitro derivative is described by Berlin and Sjogren33 as melting at 258-259°dec and as being difficulty soluble in dilute sodium hydroxide. Lack of solubility in dilute base, however, would not be expected for a substance possessing structure I. It is interesting to note that in a patent3b Sjogren claims that the product obtained from adenine and p-acetylaminobenzenesulfonyl chloride, upon heating with 10% NaOH, gave "sulfanilyladenine" which gave a correct analysis for sulfur, while in an article33 Berlin and Sjogren state that upon hydrolysis of 6-acetylsulfanilamidopurine with 10% sodium hydroxide, "a product was obtained which did not contain sulfur but which had the same melting point as purine." (Could purine be a misprint for 6-aminopurine or adenine?) Jensen and Falkenberg4 note that the product from adenine and pacetylaminobenzenesuifonyl chloride is split with hot NaOH to adenine and acetylsulfanilic acid and suggest that the initial product is 6-amino-7-(or 9-) acetylsulfanilylpurine, while the compound with mp 258-(1) (a) I. Satoda, T.
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