C-2 ARYLAMINO SUBSTITUTED PURINE ARA-CARBOCYCLIC NUCLEOSIDES AS POTENTIAL ANTICYTOMEGALOVIRUS AGENTS

There are reports in the literature that placement of an arylamino side chain al the C-2 position of purine nucleosides produces compounds capable of inhibiting DNA polymerase. To evaluate the potential of this class of compounds as antiviral agents that act by inhibiting viral DNA polymerase, ara-carbocyclic purine nucleosides possessing a 4-(1-butyl)phenylamino and a 3,5-dichlorophenylamino substituent at C-2 were chosen as the prototype structures and have been prepared from 2,4,6-trichloropyrimidine in 6 steps. For the antiviral analysis, human cytomegalovirus served as the principal virus since it expresses a virally specific DNA polymerase. None of the compounds showed activity towards this virus, but they were found to display some toxicity towards one or more cell lines.