PHENOBARBITAL AND CARBAMAZEPINE ENZYME INHIBITORS

Abstract: Phenobarbital and carbamazepine conjugates for use as enzyme inhibitors having the formula: wherein R₂ is selected from the group consisting of and wherein Z is a biologically compatible counter ion, n and m are each independently an integer from 2 to 6, and R and R₁, are each lower alkyl.

Description: PHENOBARBITAL AND CARBAMAZEPINE ENZY8IE INHIBITORS This invention relates to phenobarbital and carbamazepine conjugates, and more particularly to phenobarbital-thiophosphonate and carbamazepinethiophosphonate conjugates for use as enzyme tracers. There is described in U.S. Patent No. 4,273,866 a technique for determining the presence of ligands in test samples in which a test sample is mixed with a ligand analog-irreversible enzyme inhibitor conjugate as well as a binding protein bindable to the ligand and the ligand analog-irreversible inhibitor conjugate. As described in that patent, the amount of ligand analog-irreversible enzyme inhibitor conjugate bound by the binding protein is related to the amount of ligand test sample. Thus, the techniques as described in that patent provide a convenient immunoassay technique for measuring the amount of a variety of drugs, hormones and like biological fluids. The present invention relates to novel conjugates of phenobarbital and carbamazepine which can be used in the immunoassay technique described in the foregoing patent. The concepts of tne present invention reside in compounds having the formula: EMI1.1 wherein R, is selected from the group consisting of: EMI2.1 and wherein Z is a biologically compatible counter ion, n and m are each independently an integer from 2 to 6, and R and R1 are each independently a lower alkyl group, and preferably one containing 1 to 5 carbon atoms (e.g., methyl, ethyl, propyl, n-butyl, tert-butyl, etc.). As used herein, the term wbiologically compatible counter ion' refers to anions represented by wZw including, for example, chloro, iodo, methylsulfate, tetrafluoroborate and the like. The compounds of the present invention are useful as tracers for acetylcholinesterase in iltimunoassays for the determination of phenobarbital and carbamazepine in serum or plasma. Such compounds can be used, for example, in the immunoassay technique described in U.S. Patent No. 4,273,866, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference. The compounds of the present invention are prepared using standard synthetic techniques. For example, a compound useful as a tracer for acetylcholinesterase in immunoassays for determination of phenobarbital is prepared as follows. A 5-hydroxy phenobarbital analog is first reacted with phosgene to form the corresponding acetyl chloride derivative as illustrated by the following: EMI3.1 In a separate step, an n-butoxycarbonyl protected phosphonate is, in accordance with the teachings of U.S. Patent No. 4,273,866, converted to the corresponding trifluoroacetic salt as illustrated below: EMI3.2 The amide derivative of phenobarbital is then prepared by reacting the trifluoroacetic salt of the phosphonate with the acetylchloro derivative of phenobarbital to produce the following compound: EMI4.1 In another example, a compound useful as a tracer for acetylcholinesterase in immunoassays for determination of carbamazepine is prepared as follows: : Iminostilbene is first reacted with phosgene to form the corresponding acetyl chloride derivative as illustrated by the following: EMI5.1 In a separate step, an n-butoxycarbonyl protected phosphonate is, in accordance with the teachings of U.S. Patent o. 4,273,866, converted to the corresponding trifluoroacetic salt as illustrated below: EMI5.2 The products(IIA) and (IIIA) are then reacted in the presence of an amine base: EMI6.1 Finally, in the last step, compoundIVA is reacted with an alkyl iodide and preferably methyl iodide in the presence of a Lewis acid catalyst such as silver tetrafluoroborate to produce the compounds of the invention. As indicated above, the compounds of the present invention can be used in the immunoassay for phenobarbital or carbamazepine in accordance with the techniques described in U.S. Patent No. 4,273,866. Generally, in the use of the compounds of the invention, the phenobarbital or carbamazepine in a serum specimen is mixed with a specific antibody against phenobarbital or carbamazepine, the enzyme acetylcholinesterase, the phenobarbital or carbamazepine analogs of the present invention, the enzyme substrate which is typically acetyl-beta-(methylthio)cholline iodide and a reagent to produce the chromogenic product, usually 5,5'-dithiobis-(2-nitrobenzoic) acid. As those skilled in the art appreciate, the phenobarbital or carbamazepine present in the specimen and the phenobarbital or carbamazepine analog compete for a limited number of binder sites on the antibody, the degree of binding of each being proportional to their respective concentrations. The phenobarbital or carbamazepine analogs of the present invention, which are unbound rapidly and irreversibly, inhibit the enzyme while the analog bound by the antibody has no inhibitory effect on the enzyme. Thus, the amount of enzyme activity which is inhibited is related to the concentration of the phenobarbital or carbamazepine in the specimen. As is described in the foregoing patent, such enzyme activity can be measured colorimetrically. The active enzyme activates the substrate which further reacts to produce a chromogenic product. Spectrophotometric absorbence readings can thus be made, indicating the amount of phenobarbital or carbamazepine present in the specimen. The immunoassay can be performed at ambient temperatures although, as will be appreciated by those skilled in the art, temperatures ranging from ambient to physiological temperatures can be used with facility. Reaction times are dependent on temperature and reagent dilution. Having described the basic concepts of the present invention, reference is now made to the following examples which are provided by way of illustration of the practice of the invention of the preparation of the phenobarbital or carbamazepine conjugates. Example 1 This example illustrates the preparation of a phenobarbital conjugate. 5-hydroxyethyl-5-phenobarbituric acid (4.0 g) is added to freshly distilled tetrahydrofuran. Phosgene gas is passed through the solution for 10 minutes until all the material has solubilized. Nitrogen gas is passed through the solution for one hour and solvent is removed by evacuation. The residue is dried under vacuum to give 4.6 g (92%) as a white solid (11). The butoxycarbonyl thiophosphonate (V, 1.4 g) EMI8.1 is taken up in methylene chloride (4 ml) and cooled to 0 0C. Trifluoroacetic acid (4 ml) is added and the reaction is stirred for 30 minutes at 0 C. Solvent is removed to give a quantitative yield (1.4 g) of (VI) as an oil. EMI8.2 Compound (VII, 2.1 g) is taken up in methylene chloride and triethylamine is added to pH 9. The chloroformate (11, 1.5 g) is added and the reaction is stirred for 2 hours. The reaction mixture is washed with brine, water and dried over magnesium sulfate. Solvent is removed to yield 1.3 g of (VII) ds an oil. EMI9.1 Compound (VII, 1.1 g) is taken up in methylene chloride (4 ml) and methyl iodide (4 ml) is added. Silver tetrafluoroborate (0.5 g) is added and the reaction is stirred at room temperature for 30-45 minutes. Silver iodide is removed by filtration and solvent removed to give crude (VIII). Purification is performed on a Waters Prep 500A unit eluting with 75/25/.01M methanol-water-trifluoroacetic acid to give 0.61 g of (VIII). EMI9.2 The compound was determined to have a second order rate constant for the inhibition of acetylcholinesterase of 3.5 X 108 liter mole I min1. Example 2 This example illustrates the preparation of a carbamazepine conjugate. Iminostilbene (10 g) is added to toluene and stirred in suspension. Phosgene gas is passed through the solution until all the iminostilbene is dissolved. The solution is refluxed while phosgene is continued for 15 minutes. Phosgene is discontinued and nitrogen is passed through the solution for one hour during cooling. The solid which forms is collected on a filter and dried to yield 5.7 g of the corresponding Nchloroacetyl derivative (IIA). The butoxycarbonyl thiophosphonate (VA, 4.0g) EMI10.1 is taken up in methylene chloride (10 ml) and cooled to 00C. Trifluoroacetic acid (10 ml) is added and the solution is stirred for 30 minutes at 0 C. Solvent is removed to give a quantitative yield of (VIA) as an oil EMI10.2 in the form of its trifluoroacetic salt. The chloroformamide (IIA, 2.55g) is dissolved in methylene chloride and added to the thiophosphonate (VIA, 2.02g) in methylene chloride. The reaction is stirred at room tempera ture for six hours while keeping the pH at 9 using triethylamine. The solution is washed with water, dried with magnesium sulfate and solvent removed. The residue is chromatographed on silica geleluting with ethyl acetate to give 2.7 g of (VIIA). EMI11.1 Compound(VIIA, 2.5g) is taken up in methylene chloride (5 ml) and cooled to 0 0C. Methyl iodide (5 ml) is added followed by silver tetrafluoroborate (1.22 g). The solution is warmed to room temperature, while stirring, for 30 minutes. Silver iodide is filtered off and solvent is removed. The residue is purified on a Waters Prep SOOA unit eluting with 80/20/.OlM methanol-water-ttifluoroacetic acid on two reversed phase columns to yield 1.56 g of (VIIIA). EMI11.2 The compound was determined to have a second order rate constant for the inhibition of acetylcholinesterase of 1.8 X 108 liter mole 1 mien 1. As will be understood by those skilled in the art, the oiologically compatible counter ion is derived from the Lewis acid employed in the last step of the reaction. Other Lewis acids well known to those skilled in the art may be used in lieu of silver tetrafluoroborate, including metal salts containing, as the anion, chloro, iodo and methyl sulfate groups to produce compounds having the corresponding biologically compatible counter ion. It will be understood that various changes and modifications can be made in the details of procedure, formulation and use without departing from the spirit of the invention, especially as defined in the following claims.

Claims: C L A I M S: 1. A compound having the formula: EMI13.1 wherein Z is a biologically compatible counter ion, n is an integer from 2 to 6, R and R1 are each independently lower alkyl, and R2 is selected from the grout consisting of EMI13.2 wherein m is an integer from 2 to 6, and EMI13.3 2. A compound as defined in claim 1 wherein R2 is EMI14.1 and wherein m is an integer from 2 to 6 3. A compound as defined in claim 2 wherein n is 6, m is 2, R is butyl and R1 is methyl. 4. A compound as defined in claim 1 wherein R2 is EMI14.2 5. A compound as defined in claim 4 wherein n is 6, R is ethyl and R1 is methyl. 6. A compound as defined in claim 1 wherein Z is selected from the group consisting of chloro, iodo, methyl sulfate and tetrafluoroborate ions. 7. A compound as defined in claim 3 wherein Z is the tetrafluoroborate ion. 8. A compound as defined in claim 5 wherein Z is the tetrafluoroborate ion.

Inventors: FLENTGE, CHARLES ARTHUR, HERRIN, THOMAS RAYMOND
Applicants: ABBOTT LABORATORIES
Application year: 1984
Main classification: C07F9
IPC codes: C07F9