A Unified Approach to Phytosiderophore Natural Products.

This work reports on the concise total synthesis of eight natural products of the mugineic acid and avenic acid families (phytosiderophores). An innovative "east-to-west" assembly of the trimeric products resulted in a high degree of divergence enabling the formation of the final products in just 10 or 11 steps each with a minimum of overall synthetic effort. Chiral pool starting materials (l-malic acid, threonines) were employed for the outer building blocks while the middle building blocks were accessed by diastereo- and enantioselective methods. A highlight of this work consists in the straightforward preparation of epimeric hydroxyazetidine amino acids, useful building blocks on their own, enabling the first synthesis of 3''-hydroxymugineic acid and 3''-hydroxy-2'-deoxymugineic acid.

Siderophore-Antibiotic Conjugate Design: New Drugs for Bad Bugs?

Antibiotic resistance is a global health concern and a current threat to modern medicine and society. New strategies for antibiotic drug design and delivery offer a glimmer of hope in a currently limited pipeline of new antibiotics. One strategy involves conjugating iron-chelating microbial siderophores to an antibiotic or antimicrobial agent to enhance uptake and antibacterial potency. Cefiderocol (S-649266) is a promising cephalosporin-catechol conjugate currently in phase III clinical trials that utilizes iron-mediated active transport and demonstrates enhanced potency against multi-drug resistant (MDR) Gram-negative pathogens. Such molecules demonstrate that siderophore-antibiotic conjugates could be important future medicines to add to our antibiotic arsenal. This review is written in the context of the chemical design of siderophore-antibiotic conjugates focusing on the differing siderophore, linker, and antibiotic components that make up conjugates. We selected chemically distinct siderophore-antibiotic conjugates as exemplary conjugates, rather than multiple analogues, to highlight findings to date. The review should offer a general guide to the uninitiated in the molecular design of siderophore-antibiotic conjugates.

Evaluation of a reducible disulfide linker for siderophore-mediated delivery of antibiotics.

Bacterial iron uptake machinery can be hijacked for the targeted delivery of antibiotics into pathogens by attaching antibiotics to siderophores, iron chelators that are employed by bacteria to obtain this essential nutrient. We synthesized and evaluated Ent-SS-Cipro, a siderophore-antibiotic conjugate comprised of the triscatecholate siderophore enterobactin and the fluoroquinolone antibiotic ciprofloxacin that contains a self-immolative disulfide linker. This linker is designed to be cleaved after uptake into the reducing environment of the bacterial cytoplasm. We show that the disulfide bond of Ent-SS-Cipro is cleaved by reducing agents, including the cellular reductant glutathione, which results in release of the unmodified fluoroquinolone antibiotic. Antibacterial activity assays against a panel of Escherichia coli show that Ent-SS-Cipro exhibits activity against some, but not all, E. coli. This work informs the design of siderophore-antibiotic conjugates, particularly those carrying antibiotics with cytoplasmic targets that require release after uptake into bacterial cells, and indicates that disulfide linkers may not be generally applicable for conjugation strategies of antibiotics.

The first total synthesis of gobichelin B: a mixed-ligand siderophore of Streptomyces sp. NRRL F-4415.

The first total synthesis of a structurally diverse mixed ligand siderophore, gobichelin B produced by Streptomyces sp. NRRL F-4415, is reported. The systematic assembly of the building blocks to synthesize Gob-B 1st half and Gob-B 2nd half and subsequent coupling of these two fragments followed by global deprotection using Pearlman's catalyst led to the isolation of gobichelin B in excellent yield and purity.

Design, solid-phase synthesis and evaluation of enterobactin analogs for iron delivery into the human pathogen Campylobacter jejuni.

The human enteropathogen Campylobacter jejuni, like many bacteria, employs siderophores such as enterobactin for cellular uptake of ferric iron. This transport process has been shown to be essential for virulence and presents an attractive opportunity for further study of the permissiveness of this pathway to small-molecule intervention and as inspiration for the development of synthetic carriers that may effectively transport cargo into Gram-negative bacteria. In this work, we have developed a facile and robust microscale assay to measure growth recovery of C. jejuni NCTC 11168 in liquid culture as a result of ferric iron uptake. In parallel, we have established the solid-phase synthesis of catecholamide compounds modeled on enterobactin fragments. Applying these methodological developments, we show that small synthetic iron chelators of minimal dimensions provide ferric iron to C. jejuni with equal or greater efficiency than enterobactin.

Synthesis of conjugates between oxazolidinone antibiotics and a pyochelin analogue.

Pseudomonas aeruginosa is a Gram-negative pathogenic bacterium responsible for severe infections, and it is naturally resistant to many clinically approved antibiotic families. Oxazolidinone antibiotics are active against many Gram-positive bacteria, but are inactive against P. aeruginosa. Increasing the uptake of oxazolidinones through the bacterial envelope could lead to an increased antibiotic effect. Pyochelin is a siderophore of P. aeruginosa which delivers external iron to the bacterial cytoplasm and is a potential vector for the development of Trojan Horse oxazolidinone conjugates. Novel pyochelin-oxazolidinone conjugates were synthesized using an unexpectedly regioselective peptide coupling between an amine functionalized pyochelin and oxazolidinones functionalized with a terminal carboxylate.

Chemical Synthesis of Staphyloferrin B Affords Insight into the Molecular Structure, Iron Chelation, and Biological Activity of a Polycarboxylate Siderophore Deployed by the Human Pathogen Staphylococcus aureus.

Staphyloferrin B (SB) is a citrate-based polycarboxylate siderophore produced and utilized by the human pathogen Staphylococcus aureus for acquiring iron when colonizing the vertebrate host. The first chemical synthesis of SB is reported, which enables further molecular and biological characterization and provides access to structural analogues of the siderophore. Under conditions of iron limitation, addition of synthetic SB to bacterial growth medium recovered the growth of the antibiotic resistant community isolate S. aureus USA300 JE2. Two structural analogues of SB, epiSB and SBimide, were also synthesized and employed to investigate how epimerization of the citric acid moiety or imide formation influence its function as a siderophore. Epimerization of the citric acid stereocenter perturbed the iron-binding properties and siderophore function of SB as evidenced by experimental and computational modeling studies. Although epiSB provided growth recovery to S. aureus USA300 JE2 cultured in iron-deficient medium, the effect was attenuated relative to that of SB. Moreover, SB more effectively sequestered the Fe(III) bound to human holo-transferrin, an iron source of S. aureus, than epiSB. SBimide is an imide analogous to the imide forms of other citric acid siderophores that are often observed when these molecules are isolated from natural sources. Here, SBimide is shown to be unstable, converting to native SB at physiological pH. SB is considered to be a virulence factor of S. aureus, a pathogen that poses a particular threat to public health because of the number of drug-resistant strains emerging in hospital and community settings. Iron acquisition by S. aureus is important for its ability to colonize the human host and cause disease, and new chemical insights into the structure and function of SB will inform the search for new therapeutic strategies for combating S. aureus infections.

Total Synthesis and Antimicrobial Activity of Chlorocatechelin A.

Chlorocatechelin A (1) is a structurally unique microbial siderophore containing two units of 4-chloro-2,3-dihydroxybenzoic acid (CDB) and a characteristic acylguanidine structure. Purification from the microbe culture is not an easy task due to the lability of the acylguanidine and its chelating nature. Here we report the first convergent total synthesis and antimicrobial activity of chlorocatechelin A (1). The bis-acylated arginine was constructed using a Schotten-Baumann reaction whereas the CDB component was synthesized from o-vanillin (8). Condensation with an ornithine derivative synthesized from 1-benzyl d-glutamate was followed by deprotection in basic and neutral conditions to complete the total synthesis. We examined the antimicrobial activity of chlorocatechelin A (1) and found that this siderophore was active against desferrioxamine B (DFB)-sensitive microbes including the fish pathogen Pasteurella piscicida.

Synthesis and biological properties of thiazole-analogues of pyochelin, a siderophore of Pseudomonas aeruginosa.

Pyochelin is a siderophore common to all strains of Pseudomonas aeruginosa utilized by this Gram-negative bacterium to acquire iron(III). FptA is the outer membrane transporter responsible of ferric-pyochelin uptake in P. aeruginosa. We describe in this Letter the synthesis and the biological properties ((55)Fe uptake, binding to FptA) of several thiazole analogues of pyochelin. Among them we report in this Letter the two first pyochelin analogues able to bind FptA without promoting any iron uptake in P. aeruginosa.

Chemical Derivatization Leads to the Discovery Of Novel Analogs of Azotochelin, a Natural Siderophore, as Promising Anticancer Agents.

Siderophores are structurally unique medicinal natural products and exhibit considerable therapeutic potential. Herein, we report the design and synthesis of azotochelin, a natural siderophore, and an extensive library of azotochelin analogs and their anticancer properties. We modified the carboxylic acid and the aromatic ring of azotochelin using various chemical motifs. We evaluated the cytotoxicity of the compounds against six different cancer cell lines (KB-3-1, SNB-19, MCF-7, K-562, SW-620, and NCI-H460) and a non-cancerous cell line (HEK-293). Among the twenty compounds tested, the IC50 values of nine compounds (14, 32, 35-40, and 54) were between 0.7 and 2.0 µM against a lung cancer cell line (NCI-H460). Moreover, several compounds showed good cytotoxicity profile (IC50 <10 µM) against the tested cancer cell lines. The flow cytometry analysis showed that compounds 36 and 38 induced apoptosis in NCI-H460 in a dose-dependent manner. The cell cycle analysis indicated that compounds 36 and 38 significantly arrested the cell cycle at the S phase to block cancer cell proliferation in the NCI-H460 cell line. The study has produced various novel azotochelin analogs that are potentially effective anticancer agents and lead compounds for further synthetic and medicinal chemistry exploration.

Iron transport-mediated drug delivery: practical syntheses and in vitro antibacterial studies of tris-catecholate siderophore-aminopenicillin conjugates reveals selectively potent antipseudomonal activity.

An artificial tris-catecolate siderophore with a tripodal backbone and its conjugates with ampicillin and amoxicillin were synthesized. Both conjugates exhibited significantly enhanced in vitro antibacterial activities against Gram-negative species compared to the parent drugs, especially against Pseudomonas aeruginosa . The conjugates appeared to be assimilated by an induced bacterial iron transport process as their activities were inversely related to iron concentration. The easily synthesized tris-catecolate siderophore has great potential for future development of various drug conjugates to target antibiotic-resistant Gram-negative bacteria.

Synthesis and structure confirmation of fuscachelins A and B, structurally unique natural product siderophores from Thermobifida fusca.

The fuscachelin siderophores have been prepared synthetically as have their metal chelation complexes. The heterodimeric nature of the fuscachelin decamer lends itself to a convergent synthetic strategy. Synthetic access to the natural products and intermediates will provide readily adaptable tools in future studies examining iron-sequestration and the biosynthetic machinery.

Chemical synthesis and biological evaluation of gallidermin-siderophore conjugates.

The lantibiotic gallidermin was modified at lysine residues by regioselective attachment of derivatives of pyochelin, agrobactin and desferrioxamine B with the objective of having siderophore receptors of Gram-negative bacteria transport the antibiotic-iron chelator conjugate through the outer membrane. All of the conjugates retained activity against the Gram-positive indicator strain, Lactococcus lactis subsp. cremoris HP. However, testing of the conjugates against several Gram-negative strains yielded unexpected results. Bacteria treated with 100 µM of the conjugates complexed with Fe(3+) grew better than bacteria grown in iron-free media but worse than bacteria grown in the same media supplemented with 10 µM FeCl(3). Although these findings indicate that the conjugates are unable to inhibit the growth of Gram-negative bacteria, they indicate penetration of the outer membrane and provide structure-activity information for design of other lantibiotic conjugates. The synthetic strategy is applicable for linking biomarkers or fluorescence probes to gallidermin for studies on its localization and mode of action. As there are many lantibiotics that operate with unknown mechanisms of action, this chemical approach provides a means to modify such peptides with biomarkers for biological investigations.

Optimization of Artificial Siderophores as 68Ga-Complexed PET Tracers for In Vivo Imaging of Bacterial Infections.

The diagnosis of bacterial infections at deep body sites benefits from noninvasive imaging of molecular probes that can be traced by positron emission tomography (PET). We specifically labeled bacteria by targeting their iron transport system with artificial siderophores. The cyclen-based probes contain different binding sites for iron and the PET nuclide gallium-68. A panel of 11 siderophores with different iron coordination numbers and geometries was synthesized in up to 8 steps, and candidates with the best siderophore potential were selected by a growth recovery assay. The probes [68Ga]7 and [68Ga]15 were found to be suitable for PET imaging based on their radiochemical yield, radiochemical purity, and complex stability in vitro and in vivo. Both showed significant uptake in mice infected with Escherichia coli and were able to discern infection from lipopolysaccharide-triggered, sterile inflammation. The study qualifies cyclen-based artificial siderophores as readily accessible scaffolds for the in vivo imaging of bacteria.

Antibiotic Conjugates with an Artificial MECAM-Based Siderophore Are Potent Agents against Gram-Positive and Gram-Negative Bacterial Pathogens.

The development of novel drugs against Gram-negative bacteria represents an urgent medical need. To overcome their outer cell membrane, we synthesized conjugates of antibiotics and artificial siderophores based on the MECAM core, which are imported by bacterial iron uptake systems. Structures, spin states, and iron binding properties were predicted in silico using density functional theory. The capability of MECAM to function as an effective artificial siderophore in Escherichia coli was proven in microbiological growth recovery and bioanalytical assays. Following a linker optimization focused on transport efficiency, five ß-lactam and one daptomycin conjugates were prepared. The most potent conjugate 27 showed growth inhibition of Gram-positive and Gram-negative multidrug-resistant pathogens at nanomolar concentrations. The uptake pathway of MECAMs was deciphered by knockout mutants and highlighted the relevance of FepA, CirA, and Fiu. Resistance against 27 was mediated by a mutation in the gene encoding ExbB, which is involved in siderophore transport.

A γ-lactam siderophore antibiotic effective against multidrug-resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Klebsiella pneumoniae, and Acinetobacter spp.

Serious infections caused by multidrug-resistant (MDR) organisms (Klebsiella pneumoniae, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Acinetobacter baumannii) present a critical need for innovative drug development. Herein, we describe the preclinical evaluation of YU253911, 2, a novel γ-lactam siderophore antibiotic with potent antimicrobial activity against MDR Gram-negative pathogens. Penicillin-binding protein (PBP) 3 was shown to be a target of 2 using a binding assay with purified P. aeruginosa PBP3. The specific binding interactions with P. aeruginosa were further characterized with a high-resolution (2.0 Å) X-ray structure of the compound's acylation product in P. aeruginosa PBP3. Compound 2 was shown to have a concentration >1 µg/ml at the 6 h time point when administered intravenously or subcutaneously in mice. Employing a meropenem resistant strain of P. aeruginosa, 2 was shown to have dose-dependent efficacy at 50 and 100 mg/kg q6h dosing in a mouse thigh infection model. Lastly, we showed that a novel γ-lactam and ß-lactamase inhibitor (BLI) combination can effectively lower minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs) against carbapenem resistant Acinetobacter spp. that demonstrated decreased susceptibility to 2 alone.

Efficient Iron and ROS Nanoscavengers for Brain Protection after Intracerebral Hemorrhage.

Intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) will be accompanied by the overload of iron and reactive oxygen species (ROS) following hematoma clearance. Although deferoxamine (DFO) has been widely utilized as a clinical first-line siderophore to remove the iron overload, the ROS-inducing damage still greatly limits the therapeutic effect of DFO. To address this issue, we designed and fabricated a series of dual-functional macromolecular nanoscavengers featuring high-density DFO units and catechol moieties. Note that the former units could effectively remove the iron overload, while the latter ones could efficiently deplete the ROS. The resulting nanoscavengers efficiently down-regulate the iron and ROS levels as well as significantly reduce the cell death in both iron-overloaded RAW 264.7 cells and the ICH mice model. This work suggests a novel clue for the ICH-ameliorated iron-depleting interventional therapeutic regimen.

Total (bio)synthesis: strategies of nature and of chemists.

The biosynthetic pathways to a number of natural products have been reconstituted in vitro using purified enzymes. Many of these molecules have also been synthesized by organic chemists. Here we compare the strategies used by nature and by chemists to reveal the underlying logic and success of each total synthetic approach for some exemplary molecules with diverse biosynthetic origins.

Hydroxamate siderophores: Natural occurrence, chemical synthesis, iron binding affinity and use as Trojan horses against pathogens.

Hydroxamic acids are an important class of molecules, in particular because of their metal-chelating ability. Microorganisms, including pathogenic bacteria, use hydroxamate-based entities (siderophores), among others, to acquire Fe (III). The "Trojan horse" strategy exploits the need of bacteria for this metal by using Fe (III) active transporters to carry antibacterial or bactericidal moieties into the bacterial cell. Many natural Trojan horses (sideromycins) are derived from hydroxamic acids, thereby reflecting their potency. Various artificial sideromycins and their antibacterial activities have been reported. This review discusses the structural aspects of the hydroxamate-siderophores isolated in the last two decades, the chemical synthesis of their building blocks, their binding affinity towards Fe (III), and their application as Trojan horses (weaknesses and strengths).

Is drug release necessary for antimicrobial activity of siderophore-drug conjugates? Syntheses and biological studies of the naturally occurring salmycin "Trojan Horse" antibiotics and synthetic desferridanoxamine-antibiotic conjugates.

The recent rise in drug resistance found amongst community acquired infections has sparked renewed interest in developing antimicrobial agents that target resistant organisms and limit the natural selection of immune variants. Recent discoveries have shown that iron uptake systems in bacteria and fungi are suitable targets for developing such therapeutic agents. The use of siderophore-drug conjugates as "Trojan Horse" drug delivery agents has attracted particular interest in this area. This review will discuss efforts in our research group to study the salmycin class of "Trojan Horse" antibiotics. Inspired by the natural design of the salmycins, a series of desferridanoxamine-antibiotic conjugates were synthesized and tested in microbial growth inhibition assays. The results of these studies will be related to understanding the role of drug release in siderophore-mediated drug delivery with implications for future siderophore-drug conjugate design.