The Synthesis and Biological Activity of N-Acylated Amino Acids. A Collaborative Effort of Distributed Drug Discovery (D3)

Abstract

As part of a Distributed Drug Discovery collaborative effort between students at IUPUI and Medical University of Lublin (Poland), the solid-phase combinatorial synthesis of a series of natural, acylated tyrosine (1) and phenylalanine (2) analogs was carried out in replicated fashion. The crude samples were purified and characterized by LC/MS, proton NMR, and in cases involving novel structures, by proton and carbon-13 NMR and high-resolution mass spectrometry. The samples were characterized in biological assays at the Medical University of Lublin against the Gram-positive bacteria Staphylococcus aureus ATCC 25923, Staphylococcus epidermidis ATCC 12228, Bacillus cereus ATCC 10876, Bacillus subtilis ATCC 10876, and Micrococcus luteus ATCC 10240. Although activity of the 2-nitro and 3-nitro derivatives of phenylalanine was not reproduced by the IUPUI samples, the 5-chlorosalicylic acid derivative 1g demonstrated good activity against M. luteus (MIC = 62.5 g/mL) and moderate activity against S. aureus, S. epidermidis, and B. cereus. O Cl OH HN OH OH O O Ar HN X OH O 1 X = OH 2 X = H 1g