Synthesis and Comparative Cytokinin Activities of N-(Purin-6-yl)-d- and -l-amino Acid Methyl Esters

Six pairs of enantiomeric N-(purin-6-yl)amino acid methyl esters were synthesized and tested for their cytokinin activities by three bioassay systems, the growth of tobacco callus, the seed germination of lettuce and the fresh weight increase of excised radish cotyledons.l-(—)-Antipodes were as a whole more active than the corresponding d-(+)-isomers in the tobacco callus and seed germination tests, whereas an uniform tendency was not observed in the radish cotyledon expansion. The discussions were focused on the effects on the biological response of configurational arrangements around the asymmetric center at α-position to the adenine ring and on species difference of cytokinin receptor molecules.