Development and Bioorthogonal Activation of Palladium-Labile Prodrugs of Gemcitabine

Bioorthogonal chemistry has become one of the main driving forces in current chemical biology, inspiring the search for novel biocompatible chemospecific reactions for the past decade. Alongside the well-established labeling strategies that originated the bioorthogonal paradigm, we have recently proposed the use of heterogeneous palladium chemistry and bioorthogonal Pd0-labile prodrugs to develop spatially targeted therapies. Herein, we report the generation of biologically inert precursors of cytotoxic gemcitabine by introducing Pd0-cleavable groups in positions that are mechanistically relevant for gemcitabine’s pharmacological activity. Cell viability studies in pancreatic cancer cells showed that carbamate functionalization of the 4-amino group of gemcitabine significantly reduced (>23-fold) the prodrugs’ cytotoxicity. The N-propargyloxycarbonyl (N-Poc) promoiety displayed the highest sensitivity to heterogeneous palladium catalysis under biocompatible conditions, with a reaction half-life of less tha...