Studies directed toward synthesis of guanosine 8,5'-imino cyclonucleosides and derivatives—I

8,5'-Aminimino bridging in the guanosine series using 5'-O-tosyl (1) and 5'-O-mesyl derivatives (2) of 2',3'-O-isopropylidene-8-bromoguanosine (5) and hydrazine gave N³,5'-cyclized product 3 and the N⁵,5'-cyclonucleoside of 4-carboxyhydrazido-5-amino-2-bromoimidazole 4. To exclude the N³,5'-cyclization through ionization in the base moiety, a N²-dimethylaminomethylidene-N¹-methoxymethylene derivative 7 was synthesized from 5 through the N²-protected compound 6. 7 was converted into the N²-dimethylaminomethy analogue 8, which with hydrazine yielded first the N²-deprotected form of 8 (9). 8 or 9 with hydrazine under forcing conditions gave an 8,5'-aminimino-N¹-methox derivative 10. Oxidation of 10 with sodium metaperiodate or sodium nitrite yielded 8,5'-imino-N¹-methoxymethyleneguanosine (11a) and 8,5'-imino-N¹-methoxymethylenexanthosine derivative 11b, respectively. 11a was deprotected to 8,5'-imino-N¹-methoxymethyleneguanosine 12.