FROM BORON ANALOGS OF AMINO-ACIDS TO BORONATED DNA - POTENTIAL NEW PHARMACEUTICALS AND NEUTRON-CAPTURE AGENTS

We have been extensively involved in the synthesis of isoelectronic and isostructural boron analogues of the alpha-amino acids. These have ranged from simple glycine analogues such as H3NBH2COOH and Me2NHBH2COOH to alanine analogues. A diverse variety of analogues, including precursors and derivatives (such as peptides) have expressed potent pharmacological activity, including anticancer, antiinflammatory, analgesic, and hypolipidemic activity in animal model studies and in vitro cell cultures. More recently we have been involved in boronated nucleosides and (oligo)nucleotides. Synthetic oligonucleotide analogues or "antisense" agents can interact with a complementary nucleic acid sequence thereby blocking the biological effect of the target sequence. Toward this goal, we have prepared nucleosides which have been boronated on the pyrimidine and purine bases. We have also established that an entirely new class of nucleic acid derivatives is feasible in which one of the non-bridging oxygens in the internucleotide phosphodiester linkage can be replaced by an isoelectronic analogue, the borane group (BH3). The boronated oligonucleotides can be viewed as hybrids of the normal oxygen oligonucleotides and the methylphosphonate oligonucleotides.