Anti-Covid-19 Drug Analogues: Synthesis of Novel Pyrimidine Thioglycosides as Antiviral Agents against SARS-COV-2 and Avian Influenza H5N1 Viruses

Abstract

A class of pyrimidine thioglycoside analogs (6a-h) were synthesized from a reaction of 2-cyano-3,3-dimercapto-N-arylacrylamide (2a-d) and thiourea to produce the corresponding 4-amino-2-mercapto-N-arylpyrimidine-5-carboxamide derivatives (3a-d), and stirring of compounds (3a-d) with peracylated α-d-gluco- and galacto-pyranosyl bromides (4a,b) in DMF-sodium hydride gave the corresponding pyrimidine thioglycosides (5a-h). Deacetylation of the pyrimidine thioglycosides via a reaction with dry NH3/MeOH gave the corresponding free pyrimidine thioglycosides (6a-h). The compounds have been characterized by 13C NMR, 1H NMR, and IR. Pharmacological evaluation of compounds 3a-d, 5a-h, and 6a-h in vitro against SARS-COV-2 and Avian Influenza H5N1 virus strains revealed that some compounds possess interesting activity.