Abstract: | 2-Amino-5-[p- (bromoacetamidomethyl)benzenesulfonamidopropyl]-6-methyl-4-pyrimidinol (XV) was synthesized by acylation of 2-amino-5-aminopropyl-6-methyl-4-pyrimidinol (III) with p-cyanobenzenesulfonyl chloride followed by catalytic reduction and reaction of the resultant aminomethyl group with p-nitrophenyl bromoacetate. A second irreversible inhibitor of thymidylate synthetase, namely 2-amino-5-[p-(bromoacetyl)benzene-sulfonamidopropyl]-6-methyl-4-pyrimidinol (XVI), was synthesized by acylation of in with p-acetylbenzenesulfonyl chloride followed by bromination. Both XV and XVI were good reversible inhibitors of thymidylate synthetase and inactivated the enzyme when the candidate compound was incubated with the enzyme. Iodoacetamide, which does not form a complex with enzyme, could inactivate thymidylate synthetase almost as well as XV; therefore it appears that XV inactivated the enzyme by a random bimolecular mechanism rather than by the desired active-site-directed mechanism via an enzyme-inhibitor complex. Similar conclusions were reached with XVI since phenacyl bromide could inactivate the enzyme somewhat more rapidly than XVI. |