Peptidoglycan is crucial for the growth and viability of bacteria. Enzymes from the Mur family (MurA–MurF), which convert UDP-N-acetylglucosamine into UDP-N-acetylmuramyl pentapeptide, play an important role in the cytoplasmic phase of peptidoglycan synthesis. This phase also represents a great potential for effective inhibition of bacterial growth and proliferation. The first step in the cytoplasmic part of the synthesis is catalysed by the enzyme MurA, whose task is the transfer of enolpyruvate from phosphoenolpyruvate to UDP-N-acetylglucosamine, resulting in the formation of UDP-N-acetylglucosamine-enolpyruvate. The only currently approved covalent inhibitor of MurA is fosfomycin, which is quite effective, but bacterial resistance to this agent is a growing concern. Drugs with a covalent mode of action have a reactive functional group in the structure reacts with the target molecule via covalent bond, forming a stable target-inhibitor complex.
In our master thesis, we designed, synthesized and evaluated N-acetylglucosamine derivatives as potential covalent inhibitors of the enzyme MurA. UDP-N-acetylglucosamine is the substrate of the enzyme MurA. Therefore, we tried to replace the N-acetyl group of glucosamine with different electrophilic warheads that can form a covalent bond with the catalytic cysteine. We started with the natural sugar D-glucosamine: first we protected the amino group in the form of imine and then all alcohol groups in the form of acetate. After removing the imine, we introduced various electrophilic warheads into the free amino group by N-alkylation and N-acylation. In the last step, we attempted to deprotect the acetate protecting group by alkaline methanolysis, but the reaction conditions were too aggressive, and we were unable to isolate the desired deprotected products. Therefore, we evaluated in biological assays nine O-peracetylated derivatives of N-acetylglucosamine (compounds 4–11 and 20), which contained different electrophilic warheads. In a time-dependent manner, the enzymatic activity of MurA from E. coli was inhibited only by chloroacetamide 20, suggesting that this inhibition is covalent. Despite the indicated inhibitory effect on the isolated enzyme, none of the derivatives inhibited bacterial growth in antibacterial tests with two bacteria – S. aureus and E. coli.
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