Synthesis of 2,4‐diaminopyrido[2,3‐d]pyrimidines and 2,4‐diamino‐quinazolines with bulky dibenz[b,f]azepine and dibenzo[a,d]‐cycloheptene substituents at the 6‐position as inhibitors of dihydrofolate reductases from pneumocystis carinii,toxoplasma gondii,and mycobacterium avium

The synthesis of four previously undescribed 2,4‐diaminopyrido[2,3‐d]pyrimidines ( 3,4 ) and 2,4‐diaminoquinazolines ( 5,6 ) with a bulky tricyclic aromatic group at the 6‐position is described. Condensation of dibenz[b,f]azepine with 2,4‐diamino‐6‐bromomethylpyrido[2,3‐d]pyrimidine ( 8 ) and 2,4‐diamino‐6‐bromomethylquinazoline ( 17 ) in the presence of sodium hydride afforded N‐[(2,4‐diaminopyrido[2,3‐d]‐pyrimidin‐6‐yl)methyl]dibenz[b,f]azepine ( 3 ) and N‐[(2,4‐diaminoquinazolin‐6‐yl)methyl]dibenz[b,f]‐azepine ( 4 ), respectively. Condensation of 5‐chlorodibenzo[a,d]cycloheptene ( 19 ) and 5‐chloro‐10,11‐dihydrodibenzo[a,d]cycloheptene ( 20 ) with 2,4,6‐triaminoquinazoline ( 13 ) afforded 5‐[(2,4‐diamino‐quinazolin‐6‐yl)amino]‐5H‐dibenzo[a,d]cycloheptene ( 5 ) and the corresponding 10,11‐dihydro derivative ( 6 ), respectively. The bromides 8 and 17 , as hydrobromic acid salts, were obtained from the corresponding nitriles according to a standard three‐step sequence consisting of treatment with Raney nickel in formic acid followed by reduction with sodium borohydride and bromination with dry hydrogen bromide in glacial acetic acid. Compounds 3–6 were evaluated in vitro for the ability to inhibit dihydrofolate reductase from Pneumocystis carinii, Toxoplasma gondii, Mycobacterium avium, and rat liver. Compounds 3 and 4 were potent inhibitors of all four enzymes, with IC₅₀ values in the 0.03–0.1 μM range, whereas 5 was less potent. However the selectivity of all four compounds for the parasite enzymes relative to the rat enzyme was<10‐fold, whereas the recently reported lead compound in this series, N‐[(2,4‐diaminopteridin‐6‐yl)methyl]dibenz[b,f]azepine ( 1 ) has > 100‐fold selectivity for the T. gondii and M. avium enzyme and 21‐fold selectivity for the P carinii enzyme.