Carbonic anhydrase activators: amino acyl/dipeptidyl histamine derivatives bind with high affinity to isozymes I, II and IV and act as efficient activators

Reaction of histamine (Hst) with tetrabromophthalic anhydride and protection of its imidazole moiety with tritylsulfenyl chloride, followed by hydrazinolysis, afforded N-1-tritylsulfenyl-histamine, a key intermediate which was further derivatized at its aminoethyl moiety. Reaction of the key intermediate with N-Boc-amino acids/dipeptides (Boc-AA) in the presence of carbodiimides afforded, after deprotection of the imidazolic and amino moieties, a series of compounds with the general formula AA-Hst (AA=amino acyl; dipeptidyl). The new derivatives were assayed as activators of three carbonic anhydrase (CA) isozymes, hCA I, hCA II (cytosolic forms) and bCA IV (membrane-bound form). Efficient activation was observed against all three isozymes, but especially against hCA I and bCA IV, with affinities in the nanomolar range for the best compounds. hCA II was, on the other hand, activatable with affinities around 10–20 nM. This new class of CA activators might lead to the development of drugs/diagnostic agents for the CA deficiency syndrome, a genetic disease of bone, brain and kidneys.