François Estour

Detoxification of nerve agents by a substituted β-cyclodextrin: Application of a modified biological assay

Chemical warfare agents (nerve agents) are still available and present a real threat to the population. Numerous in vitro and in vivo studies showed that various nerve agents, e.g. tabun and cyclosarin, are resistant towards standard therapy with atropine and oxime. Based on these facts we applied a modified biological assay for the easy, semi-quantitative testing of the detoxifying properties of the beta-cyclodextrin derivative CD-IBA. Cyclosarin, sarin, tabun and VX were incubated with CD-IBA for 1-50 min at 37 degrees C, then an aliquot was added to erythrocyte acetylcholinesterase (AChE) and the percentage of AChE inhibition was determined. The validity of the assay was confirmed by concomitant quantification of tabun by GC-MS. Different concentrations of cyclosarin were detoxified by CD-IBA in a concentration-dependent velocity. The ability to detoxify various nerve agents decreased in the order cyclosarin>sarin>tabun>>VX. Hereby, no detoxification of VX could be detected. Sarin was detoxified in a biphasic reaction with a fast reduction of inhibitory potential in the first phase and a slower detoxification in the second phase. CD-IBA detoxified tabun in a one phase decay and, compared to cyclosarin and sarin, a longer half-life was determined with tabun. The modified biological assay is appropriate for the initial semi-quantitative screening of candidate compounds for the detoxification of nerve agents. The beta-cyclodextrin derivative CD-IBA demonstrated its ability to detoxify different nerve agents.

In vitro detoxification of cyclosarin (GF) by modified cyclodextrins

Developing potent detoxification strategies for prophylaxis and therapy against organophosphate (OP) intoxication still represents a challenging task. Clinical application of numerous investigated substances including enzymes and low molecular scavengers like metal ions or nucleophiles could not yet be realised due to profound disadvantages. Presenting a promising attempt, cyclodextrins (CDs) efficiently enhance the degradation of some organophosphorus compounds. The present study examined the in vitro GF degradation mediated by three CDs and a nucleophilic precursor performed by mass spectrometric detection with ammonia chemical ionisation. All four compounds caused a notable enhancement of GF detoxification that was synergistically accelerated in the case of 2-O-(3-carboxy-4-iodosobenzyl)-β-cyclodextrin (IBA-β-CD) with the alpha-nucleophile 2-iodosobenzoic acid (IBA) grafted on the secondary face of β-cyclodextrin (β-CD). In vitro toxicokinetic investigations of CD derivatives are needed to evaluate the effect of slow terminal elimination phase of the more toxic (-)-GF shown for two CD-derivatives underlining the necessity of detecting the complete kinetic course of inactivation. The observed effect of fast high affinity binding (20-30%) represents an additional therapeutic option of an extremely rapid reduction of GF concentration in vivo. Distinctive differences in the course of reaction are detected depending on β-CD-derivatives, allowing a first inference of possible mechanisms and relevance of attached substituents. However, further profound investigation needs to be done to evaluate the basis of a clinical application of substituted CDs as potential detoxification agents.

New modified β-cyclodextrin derivatives as detoxifying agents of chemical warfare agents (I). Synthesis and preliminary screening: evaluation of the detoxification using a half-quantitative enzymatic assay.

Current treatments of organophosphorus nerve agents poisoning are imperfect, and more efficient medical countermeasures need to be developed. Chemical scavengers based on β-cyclodextrin displayed promising results, but further investigations have to be performed to evaluate the possibility of application of substituted cyclodextrins as potential detoxification agents. Herein, five new cyclodextrins scavengers were synthesized. New optimal conditions for regioselectively monosubstitution of β-cyclodextrin at O-2 position were then studied to access to key intermediates. After these optimizations, a new series of three permethylated derivatives was developed, and two compounds bearing an α-nucleophilic group via a three carbon atoms linker were prepared. The ability of these five scavengers to detoxify nerve agents (cyclosarin, soman, tabun and VX) was evaluated by a semi-quantitative biological assay. All the modified cyclodextrins significantly decreased the inhibitory effect of chemical warfare G agents on acetylcholinesterase activity. For this purpose, we showed that the specific interactions between the organophosphorus compound and the oligosaccharidic moiety of the scavenger played a pivotal role in the detoxification process.

Interactions of cyclodextrins and their derivatives with toxic organophosphorus compounds

Summary The aim of this review is to provide an update on the current use of cyclodextrins against organophosphorus compound intoxications. Organophosphorus pesticides and nerve agents play a determinant role in the inhibition of cholinesterases. The cyclic structure of cyclodextrins and their toroidal shape are perfectly suitable to design new chemical scavengers able to trap and hydrolyze the organophosphorus compounds before they reach their biological target.

Functionalized cyclodextrins bearing an alpha nucleophile – A promising way to degrade nerve agents

Organophosphorus nerve agents are irreversible inhibitors of acetylcholinesterase. Current treatment of nerve agent poisoning has limited efficacy and more efficient medical countermeasures need to be developed. A promising approach is to design chemical scavengers more stable during storage and less immunogenic than bioscavengers. Furthermore, they could be produced at lowest production costs. Cyclodextrins are attractive cyclic oligosaccharides that can be used to develop chemical scavengers of organophosphorus nerve agents. Their abilities to form inclusion and non-inclusion complexes with organic substrates are useful to trap chemical warfare agents. Selective introduction of an α-nucleophile residue on the secondary face of β-cyclodextrin allowed to obtain supramolecular derivatives active against organophosphorus compounds. The degradation activity of these monosubstituted cyclodextrins was determined against paraoxon and chemical warfare agents. These tests showed that the structure of the scavengers mainly influences the interaction between the organophosphorus substrate, or its reaction products, and the cyclodextrin moiety. All the tested G-type agents were efficiently degraded. According to the binding modes of cyclosarin, some oligosaccharidic scavengers led to an enantioselective degradation of this nerve agent. These promising derivatives open the way to further investigations of new structural modifications to reach more sophisticated and efficient scavengers for prophylactic and curative medical applications.

Optimized strategies to synthesize β-cyclodextrin-oxime conjugates as a new generation of organophosphate scavengers.

A new generation of organophosphate (OP) scavengers was obtained by synthesis of β-cyclodextrin-oxime derivatives 8-12. Selective monosubstitution of β-cyclodextrin was the main difficulty in order to access these compounds, because reaction onto the oligosaccharide was closely related to the nature of the incoming group. For this purpose, non-conventional activation conditions were also evaluated. Intermediates 5 and 7 were then obtained with the better yields under ultrasounds irradiation. Finally, the desired compounds 8-10 were obtained from 5-7 in high purity by desilylation using potassium fluoride. Quaternarisation of compounds 8 and 9 was carried out. OP hydrolytic activity of compounds 8-12 was evaluated against cyclosarin (GF) and VX. None of the tested compounds was active against VX, but these five cyclodextrin derivatives detoxified GF, and the most active scavengers 10 and 11 allowed an almost complete hydrolysis of GF within 10 min. Even more fascinating is the fact that compounds 9 and 10 were able to hydrolyze enantioselectively GF.

New modified β-cyclodextrin derivatives as detoxifying agents of chemical warfare agents (II). In vitro detoxification of cyclosarin (GF): general screening and toxicokinetic aspects of OP scavengers.

As standard therapy of intoxication with organophosphorus (OP) compounds is still insufficient, developing new treatment strategies is urgently required. For evaluating potential of OP detoxification of several compounds correctly, different toxicodynamic impact of OP enantiomers has to be considered thoroughly. It has already been demonstrated that β-cyclodextrin (β-CD) derivatives with attached nucleophilic substituent iodosobenzoic acid (IBA) can be regarded as potent OP scavengers due to an accelerating effect on decay of different OP. Herein, six CD derivatives permethylated or not on CD torus as well as differently attached nucleophilic substituent IBA derivative were investigated regarding detoxification of GF as an OP model substance. Acceleration of GF detoxification could be detected for all compounds with highest rate constants for propylene chain linked nucleophilic substituents on CD derivative. In addition, fast initial binding of GF on CD could be observed and is ascribed to formation of CD complexes. Furthermore, terminal plateau phase was detected of about 1% of each enantiomer reflecting the necessity of a quantitative determination at low concentrations. Moreover, this molecular depot formation may represent an additional detoxification pathway for OP.

Effect of the second coordination sphere on new contrast agents based on cyclodextrin scaffolds for MRI signals

Two new imaging tools using polydentate cyclodextrins were obtained using an innovative synthetic strategy. For the first time the influence of hydrogen bonding interactions of the cyclodextrin free rim was studied by MRI. The positive second coordination sphere effect was then quantified.

Improvement of Synthetic Pathways to Thalidomide Ester Derivatives

Three synthetic approaches to N-substituted Thalidomide prodrugs from (S)-phtaloylglutamic acid, (S)-Boc-glutamic acid or phtaloylglutamic anhydride are described and compared. The most efficient method is a one-pot synthesis which allowed to obtain an ester derivative of Thalidomide with 67 % yield.

Structure–efficiency relationships of cyclodextrin scavengers in the hydrolytic degradation of organophosphorus compounds

New derivatives of cyclodextrins were prepared in order to determine the relative importance of the structural key elements involved in the degradation of organophosphorus nerve agents. To avoid a competitive inclusion between the organophosphorus substrate and the iodosobenzoate group, responsible for its degradation, the latter group had to be covalently bound to the cyclodextrin scaffold. Although the presence of the α nucleophile iodosobenzoate was a determinant in the hydrolysis process, an imidazole group was added to get a synergistic effect towards the degradation of the agents. The degradation efficiency was found to be dependent on the relative position of the heterocycle towards the reactive group as well as on the nature of the organophosphorus derivative.