Use of Pd-catalyzed Suzuki-Miyaura coupling reaction in the rapid synthesis of 5-aryl-6-(phosphonomethoxy)uracils and evaluation of their inhibitory effect towards human thymidine phosphorylase

A number of new 5-aryl substituted pyrimidine acyclic nucleoside phosphonates were synthesized and tested for their ability to inhibit human TP. Their rapid synthesis using Pd-catalyzed Suzuki-Miyaura coupling reactions of various arylboronic acids with 5-bromo-4-(phosphonomethoxy)-2,6-dibutoxypyrimidine was successfully applied. For a series of 5-aryl-6-phosphonomethoxyuracils, an increased inhibitory effect was determined. This effect is supported by the results found for 4-fluorophenyl (K-i(dThd)=4.89 +/- 0.62) and 3-nitrophenyl (K-i(dThd)=3.98 +/- 0.46) substituents. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.