Carbocyclic Analogs of Nucleosides. Part 3. Synthesis of a new sulfone analog of cyclic adenosine 3′,5′-monophosphate

The novel uncharged analog 2 of adenosine 3′,5′ -monophosphate (1) was prepared in its racemic form. To increase membrane permeability, the phosphate diester monoanion group of 1 was replaced by a dimethylene sulfone unit ( = methanosulfonylmethano group), and the 2′-OH group was removed. To decrease lability against acid-catalyzed depurination, the ring O-atom was replaced by a CH₂ group. All three modifications are also expected to increase the stability of analog 2 towards enzymatic degradation. The carbocyclic skeleton of 2 was constructed from trinorbornenecarbaldehyde 3 (see Scheme 1–3), and the adenine precursor 6-chloropurine was introduced in the carbocyclic unit via an S_N2 reaction based on Mitsunobu chemistry (Schemes 4 and 5).