Synthesis 2008(24): 3957-3962  
DOI: 10.1055/s-0028-1083241
PAPER
© Georg Thieme Verlag Stuttgart ˙ New York

Novel Bioconjugates of Aminolevulinic Acid with Nucleosides

Patrice Gurbaa, Ramakrishnan Vallinayagama, Frédéric Schmittb, Julien Furrera, Lucienne Juillerat-Jeanneretb, Reinhard Neier*a
a Institut de Chimie, Université de Neuchâtel, Rue Emile-Argand 11, PO 158, 2009 Neuchatel, Switzerland
Fax: +41(32)7182511; e-Mail: Reinhard.Neier@unine.ch;
b Institut de Pathologie, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Vaudois (CHUV) et Université de Lausanne (UNIL), Bugnon 25, 1011 Lausanne, Switzerland
Further Information

Publication History

Received 2 September 2008
Publication Date:
01 December 2008 (online)

Abstract

Esters and amino acid derivatives of 5-aminolevulinic acid (ALA) are efficient prodrugs for the production of protoporphyrin IX (PpIX), which has been used in photodynamic cancer therapy (PDT). The synthesis of novel bioconjugates combining ALA with adenosine and thymidine is reported. The novel bioconjugates have been made using a robust methodology. The new class of prodrugs contains one, two, or three ALA per molecule. Preliminary cell tests in human cancer cell lines indicate that the thymidine conjugate of ALA is an efficient prodrug for PDT.