Prodrugs of Ara-CMP and Ara-AMP with a S-acyl-2-thioethyl (SATE) biolabile phosphate protecting group: synthesis and biological evaluation.
The bis(S-pivaloyl-2-thioethyl) phosphotriesters of Ara-C and Ara-A were synthesized as potential bioreversible mononucleotide prodrugs. Some N- and O-acylated derivatives were also prepared with the aim to modify the lipophilicity of the title pronucleotides. Compounds were tested for their antitumor/antiviral activity against a variety of tumor cells and viruses.