Synthesis of 13C4-labelled oxidized metabolites of the carcinogenic polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon benzo[a]pyrene

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), such as benzoa]pyrene (BaP), are ubiquitous environmental contaminants that are implicated in causing lung cancer. BaP is a component of tobacco smoke that is transformed enzymatically to active forms that interact with DNA. We reported previously development of a sensitive stable isotope dilution LC/MS method for analysis of BaP metabolites. We now report efficient syntheses of ¹³C₄-BaP and the complete set of its ¹³C₄-labelled oxidized metabolites needed as internal standards They include the metabolites not involved in carcinogenesis (Group A) and the metabolites implicated in initiation of cancer (Group B). The synthetic approach is novel, entailing use of Pd-catalyzed Suzuki, Sonogashira, and Hartwig cross-coupling reactions combined with PtCl₂-catalyzed cyclization of acetylenic compounds. This synthetic method requires fewer steps, employs milder conditions, and product isolation is simpler than conventional methods of PAH synthesis. The syntheses of ¹³C₄-BaP and ¹³C₄-BaP-8-ol each require only four steps, and the ¹³C-atoms are all introduced in a single step. ¹³C₄-BaP-8-ol serves as the synthetic precursor of all the oxidized metabolites of ¹³C-BaP implicated in initiation of cancer. The isotopic purities of the synthetic ¹³C₄-BaP metabolites were estimated to be ≥99.9%.