Studies on the reductively triggered release of heterocyclic and steroid drugs from 5-nitrothien-2-ylmethyl prodrugs

Hypoxia (inadequate concentrations of dioxygen in tissues) is present in several disease states, including cancer and rheumatoid arthritis. Prodrug systems, which after bioreduction, selectively release active drugs in these tissues may be important in therapy. The 5-nitrothien-2-ylmethyl ester of aspirin was synthesised by treatment of 5-nitrothiophene-2-methanol with 2-acetoxybenzoyl chloride, whereas that of prednisolone hemisuccinate was prepared by reaction of prednisolone with 5-nitrothien-2-ylmethyl pentafluorophenyl butanedioate. In chemical model systems, both of these ester-linked potential prodrugs suffered hydrolysis, rather than reductively triggered release of the corresponding drug. 1-(5-Nitrothien-2-ylmethoxy)isoquinolines released the corresponding isoquinolin-1-ones (potent inhibitors of poly(ADP-ribose)polymerase) rapidly upon reduction of the nitro group with sodium borohydride/palladium, showing that these may be useful as reductively triggered prodrugs. In approaches to N-linked potential prodrugs, isoquinolin-1-one and nifedipine (a 1,4-dihydropyridine Ca2+ channel antagonist) were alkylated at nitrogen by 2-chloromethylthiophene but the corresponding 5-nitrothien-2-ylmethyl derivatives were synthetically inaccessible.