1α,25-Dihydroxyvitamin D₃ Analogs Featuring Aromatic and Heteroaromatic Rings: Design, Synthesis, and Preliminary Biological Testing

Aromatic compounds 2a-c, analogs of 1α,25-dihydroxyvitamin (calcitriol, 1), and heteroaromatic compounds 4a-c and 5a-c, analogs of 19-nor-1α,25-dihydroxyvitamin D₃ (3), were designed to simulate the topology of their biologically potent parent compounds while avoiding previtamin D equilibrium. Convergent and facile total syntheses of the analogs (+)-2b, (+)-2c, (-)-4b, and (-)-5b were achieved via carbonyl addition of regiospecifically formed organolithium nucleophiles to the enantiomerically pure C,D-ring ketone (+)-17, characteristic of natural calcitriol (1). Likewise, hybrid analogs 20a-c were prepared to determine whether incorporation of a known potentiating side chain would lead to increased biological activity. Preliminary in vitro biological testing showed that aromatic analogs (+)-2b, (+)-2c, and 20a-c as well as heteroaromatic analogs (-)-4b and (-)-5b have very low affinities for the calf thymus vitamin D receptor but considerable antiproliferative activities in murine keratinocytes at micromolar concentration. No biological advantage was observed in this keratinocyte assay for the doubly modified hybrid analogs 20a-c over the singly modified parent (+)-2b. Analog (+)-2b, but surprisingly not the corresponding analog 20b differing from (+)-2b only in the side chain, showed considerable activity in nongenomic opening of calcium channels in rat osteosarcoma cells.