Pteridines. Part LXXXV. Chemical synthesis of deoxysepiapterin and 6-acylpteridines by acyl radical substitution reactions

A new synthesis of deoxysepiapterin ( 2 ), one of the two yellow eye pigments of the Drosophila mutant sepia, is described. The synthetic approach makes use of a homolytic nucleophilic acylation of 7-(alkylthio)pteridine derivatives ( 11, 13, 15, 18, 20 ) leading to the corresponding 6-acyl derivatives ( 21–27 ). Desulfurizations have been achieved for the first time in the pteridine series using Raney-Co,Raney-Cu, or Cu? Al alloy in alkaline medium. Besides cleavage of the C(7)? S bond, further reductions of the C?O group at C(6) and the C(7)?N(8) bond are detected as side reactions leading to 6-(1-hydroxyalkyl) ( 34, 35, 42, 43 ) and 6-acyl-7,8-dihydro derivatives ( 2, 36, 37 ), respectively, The newly synthesized compounds have been characterized by elemental analysis, p_K determination, UV and ¹H-NMR spectra.