Synthesis of Combretastatin A-4 Prodrugs Synthese Von Combretastatin A-4 Prodrugs Synthese De Promedicaments a Base De Combrestatine A-4
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(19) & (11) EP 1 045 853 B1 (12) EUROPEAN PATENT SPECIFICATION (45) Date of publication and mention (51) Int Cl.: of the grant of the patent: C07F 9/09 (2006.01) C07F 9/12 (2006.01) 04.08.2010 Bulletin 2010/31 (86) International application number: (21) Application number: 99902121.5 PCT/US1999/000419 (22) Date of filing: 08.01.1999 (87) International publication number: WO 1999/035150 (15.07.1999 Gazette 1999/28) (54) SYNTHESIS OF COMBRETASTATIN A-4 PRODRUGS SYNTHESE VON COMBRETASTATIN A-4 PRODRUGS SYNTHESE DE PROMEDICAMENTS A BASE DE COMBRESTATINE A-4 (84) Designated Contracting States: (56) References cited: AT BE CH DE DK ES FI FR GB GR IE IT LI LU NL WO-A-92/16486 US-A- 4 996 237 PT SE US-A- 5 561 122 (30) Priority: 09.01.1998 US 71070 P • TANIGUCHI M. ET AL.: "Synthesis and evaluation 09.12.1998 US 111531 P in vitro of 4-acetamidophenyl phosphate" CHEMICALAND PHARMACEUTICAL BULLETIN., (43) Date of publication of application: vol. 29, no. 2, 1981, pages 577-580, XP002189841 25.10.2000 Bulletin 2000/43 PHARMACEUTICAL SOCIETY OF JAPAN. TOKYO., JP ISSN: 0009-2363 (73) Proprietor: ARIZONA BOARD OF REGENTS, A • PETTIT G.R. ET AL.: "Antineoplastic agents 389. BODY CORPORATE OF THE New syntheses of the combretastatin A-4 STATE OF ARIZONA acting for and on behalf of prodrug" ANTI-CANCER DRUG DESIGN, vol. 13, ARIZONA STATE UNIVERSITY no. 3, - April 1998 (1998-04) pages 183-191, Tempe, AZ 85287 (US) XP008000347 BASINGSTOKE, GB ISSN: 0266-9536 (72) Inventors: • PETTIT G.R. ET AL.: "Antineoplastic agents 393. • PETTIT, George, R. Synthesis of the trans-isomer of combretastatin Paradise Valley, AZ 85253 (US) A-4 prodrug" ANTI- CANCER DRUG DESIGN, vol. • RHODES, Monte, R. 13, no. 8, - December 1998 (1998-12) pages Louisville, KY 40222 (US) 981-993, XP008000346 BASINGSTOKE, GB ISSN: 0266-9536 (74) Representative: Didmon, Mark • DATABASE CAPLUS ON STN, CHEM. Potter Clarkson LLP ABSTRACTS, (Columbus, Ohio, USA), No. 94: Park View House 197470,TANIGUCHI M. et al., "Study of Phosphate 58 The Ropewalk Esters as Prodrugs. Part 3. Synthesis and Nottingham NG1 5DD (GB) Evaluation In Vitro of 4-Acetamidophenyl Phosphate", XP002918206; & CHEM. PHARM. BULL., February 1981, 29(2), 577-580. Note: Within nine months of the publication of the mention of the grant of the European patent in the European Patent Bulletin, any person may give notice to the European Patent Office of opposition to that patent, in accordance with the Implementing Regulations. Notice of opposition shall not be deemed to have been filed until the opposition fee has been paid. (Art. 99(1) European Patent Convention). EP 1 045 853 B1 Printed by Jouve, 75001 PARIS (FR) EP 1 045 853 B1 Description [0001] The present invention relates generally to the field of compounds which may be useful in the treatment of one or more neoplastic diseases and more particularly, this invention relates to the synthesis of water soluble prodrugs of 5 the antineoplastic compound denominated "combretastatin A-4." [0002] This research was funded in part by Outstanding Investigator Grant CA44344-05-09 awarded by the National Cancer Institute, DHHS. The United States government may have certain rights to this invention. [0003] The present invention relates to new and improved methods of synthesizing prodrugs and trans-isomers of the known antineoplastic compound denominated combretastatin A-4. 10 [0004] In addition, this invention teaches the chemistry of forming phosphate salts by reaction with the phenolic hydroxy groups present in combretastatin A- 4 and its analogs as described in U.S. Patents 4,940,726;5,409,953; and 5,569,786. combretastatin A-4 has poor water solubility distribution within biological systems. The elucidation and isolation of com- bretastatin A-4 is described in U.S. Patent No. 4,996,237 which issued to G.R. Pettit et al., on February 26, 1991, while early efforts to develop a combretastatin A- 4 prodrug are described in U.S. Patent No. 5,561,122. which issued to G.R. 15 Pettit on October 1, 1996. [0005] The potent cancer cell growth and tubulin assembly inhibitor combretastatin A-4 was originally isolated from the African tree Combretum caffrum (Combretaceae) circa 1985 and has been undergoing preclinical development. However, because of the very sparing aqueous solubility behaviour of the phenol and its alkali metal salts, drug formulation attemptshave given unsatisfactory results. The present invention is as defined in the accompanying claims andrepresents 20 a breakthrough in the continuing effort to synthesize practical water soluble prodrugs based on combretastatin A-4 and is a significant advance over the early efforts described in U.S. Patent No. 5,561,122, supra. [0006] In certain African Zulu traditional practices, the root bark of Combretum caffrum (G. salicyolium, combretaceae Family) is used as a charm for causing harm to an enemy. Combretastatin A-4, 1a, a Z-stilbene, isolated (Pettit et al., 1989, Isolation and structure of the strong cell-growth and tubulin inhibitor combretastatin A-4, Experimentia, 45, 209) 25 from this tree has been shown to be a potent cancer cell growth inhibitor (El-Zayat et al., 1993, In vitro evaluation of the antineoplastic activity of combretastatin A-4, a natural product from Combretum caffrum (arid shrub), Anti-Cancer Drugs, 4, 19); cancer anti-agent (Dark et al., 1997, combretastatin A-4, an agent that displays potent and selective toxicity towards tumour vasculature); and a tubulin assembly inhibitor (Lin et al., 1989, Antimitotic natural products combretastatin A-4 and combretastatin A- 2: studies on the mechanism of their inhibition of the binding of colchicine to tubulin, Biochem- 30 istry, 28, 6984). Combretastatin a-4 is now in clinical development. [0007] Although combretastatin A-4 has a phenol hydroxyl group and has demonstrated considerable promise as a unique anticancer agent, its development has been inhibited by its extremely poor solubility in water. A series of water- soluble derivatives have been recently reported (Brown et al., 1995, Synthesis of water-soluble sugar derivatives of combretastatin A-4, Journal of the Chemical Society, Perkin Transactions 1, 577; Woods et al., 1995, The interaction 35 with tubulin of a series of stilbenes based on combretastatin A- 4, British Journal of Cancer, 71, 705; and, Bedford et al., 1996, Synthesis of Water- Soluble Prodrugs of the Cytotoxic Agent combretastatin A- 4, Bioorganic & Medicinal Chemistry Letters, 6, 157) where the water-soluble phosphate sodium salt, 1h, (Pettit et al., 1995, Antineoplastic agents 322, Synthesis of combretastatin A-4 prodrugs, Anti-Cancer Drug Design, 10, 299; and, Pettit, U.S. Patent No. 5,561,122) proved to be the most attractive. However, the phosphorylation sequence employing bis (2,2,2-trichloroethyl)phosphoro- 40 chloridate, subsequent reduction (Zn, CH 3CO2H), and isolation by ionexchange chromatography was not well suited to producing prodrug 1h on a large scale and as such, posed a significant economic obstacle to its ultimate commerciali- zation. [0008] While prodrug options are steadily increasing and include poly (ethylene glycol) esters (Greenwald et al., 1996, Drug delivery systems: water soluble taxol 2’-poly (ethylene glycol) ester prodrugs- design and in vivo effectiveness, The 45 Journal of Medicinal Chemistry, 39, 424); quaternary salts (Lackey et al., 1996, Water soluble inhibitors of topoisomerase I: quaternary salt derivatives of camptothecin, The Journal of Medicinal Chemistry, 39, 713); sulfonate salts (Hejchman et al., 1995, Synthesisand cytotoxicityof water-soluble ambrosin prodrug candidates, The Journal of Medicinal Chemistry, 38, 3407); urethans (Izawa et al., 1995, Design and synthesis of an antitumor prodrug released by the reaction with sulfhydryl compounds, Bioorganic & Medicinal Chemistry Letters, 5, 593); biodegradable polymers (Gombotz et al., 50 1995, Biodegradable polymers for protein and peptide drug delivery, Bioconjugate Chemistry, 6, 332); and, a variety of other methods (Jungheim et al., 1994, Design of antitumor prodrugs: substrates for antibody targeted enzymes, Chemical Reviews, 94, 1553), the present disclosure is focused on the previously introduced sodium phosphate derivative1h (which is equivalent to the sodium phosphate derivative 3d, produced by the methods set forth herein, see below) of combretastatin A-4. From evidence at hand phosphate 1h (as well as 3d) is presumed to be appropriately dephospho- 55 rylated by serum phosphatases and then transported intracellularly. [0009] Furthermore, the phosphate prodrug approach has proved useful with substances as diverse as Etoposide (Saulnier et al., 1994, Synthesis of etoposide phosphate, BMY- 40481: a water-soluble clinically active prodrug of etopo- side, Bioorganic & Medicinal Chemistry Letters, 4, 2567); Taxol (Mamber et al., 1995, Tubulin polymerization by paclitaxel 2 EP 1 045 853 B1 (Taxol) phosphate prodrugs after metabolic activation with alkaline phosphatase, The Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics, 374, 877; Ueda et al., 1995, Novel, water-soluble phosphate derivatives of 2’-ethoxycarb- onylpaclitaxel as potential prodrugs of paclitaxel: synthesis and antitumor evaluation, Bioorganic & Medicinal Chemistry Letters, 5, 247; and Ueda, et al., 1993, Novel water soluble phosphate prodrugs of Taxol possessing in vivo antitumor 5 activity, Bioorganic & Medicinal Chemistry Letters, 3, 1761); and tyrosine-containing peptides (Chao et al., 1993, N,N- Diisopropyl-bis[2-(trimethylsily)ethyl]phosphoramidite, An attractive phosphorylating