Novel amino acids: synthesis of furoxan and sydnonimine containing amino acids and peptides as potential nitric oxide releasing motifs

The incorporation of furoxan and sydnonimine ring systems into amino acid side chains is demonstrated with the preparation of four novel amino acids which carry these nitric oxide-releasing motifs. N-((4-Nitrophenoxy)carbonyl)-3-phenylsydnonimine 9 and bis(phenylsulfonyl)furoxan 10 are the key intermediates for introducing the heterocycle side chains onto appropriate amine and alcohol functionalities respectively. Furoxan 5 and 7 both displayed NO release based on determination of nitrite production. Orthogonal amino acid protecting group strategies were deployed to demonstrate that the amino acids could be incorporated into peptide frameworks. By way of demonstration the amino acids were placed centrally into several tripeptide motifs. Griess test assays showed that these amino acids released NO in the presence of γ-glutathione (GST).