Synthesis of 2'- C -Methylcytidine and 2'- C -Methyluridine Derivatives Modified in the 3'-Position as Potential Antiviral Agents

As part of our anti-hepatitis C program, we recently discovered 2'- C -methylcytidine ( 1 ) and 2'- C -methyluridine ( 2 ), which are potent inhibitors in cell culture of several viruses (bovine viral diarrhea virus (BVDV), yellow fever virus (YFV)) closely related to HCV. In order to characterize structure-activity relationships, we introduced some structural and functional modifications into the 3'-position of 2'- C -methylcytidine and 2'- C -methyluridine. All these hitherto unknown compounds thus synthesized were tested for the activity against a wide range of viruses and found to be inactive.