Deoxyribosyl analogues of methionyl and isoleucyl sulfamate adenylates as inhibitors of methionyl-tRNA and isoleucyl-tRNA synthetases

2'-Deoxy, 3'-deoxy, and 2',3'-dideoxyribosyl surrogates of isoleucyl and methionyl sulfamate adenylates have been investigated to identify the pharmacophoric importance of the ribose group for the inhibition of Escherichia coli methionyl-tRNA (MRS) and isoleucyl-tRNA (IRS) synthetases. Molecular modeling of 2',3'-dideoxyribosyl Met-NHSO2-AMP (9) with the crystal structure of E. coli MRS revealed that the lack of the two hydroxyl groups on ribose was compensated by the formation of an extra hydrogen bond between the ring oxygen and His24, resulting in a small activity reduction.