Equipping Uridine with Three Dipeptide Motifs for the Inhibition of Radical-Induced DNA Oxidation

We report the discovery and characterization of antioxidative effects of uridine linked with three dipeptide motifs against DNA oxidation induced by peroxyl radicals. First, the dipeptide motifs are constructed by using the Ugi four-component reaction (Ugi 4CR), in which caffeic, ferulic, sinapic, and syringic acids are used as the carboxylic acid resources, vanillin, benzaldehyde, and <i>p</i>-hydroxybenzaldehyde are used as the aldehyde resources, tyramine- and dopamine-related isocyanides as well as ethyl isocyanoacetate are used as the isocyanide resources, and 2-(<i>p</i>-aminophenyl)ethanol is used as the amine component. We found that the antioxidative effects of the Ugi 4CR products are 1.3-2.8 times higher than those of caffeic, ferulic, sinapic, and syringic acids in the protection of DNA against peroxyl radical-induced oxidation. Moreover, when three Ugi 4CR products are linked with three hydroxyl groups of uridine by using three succinic anhydrides as the linkage, the inhibitory effects of the afforded uridine-dipeptide hybrids against the DNA oxidation increase 4.4-8.9 times (>3 times) compared to that of the Ugi 4CR product. This is due to the hybrid structure consisting of uridine and three motifs of the Ugi 4CR product enabling binding with the DNA strand more efficiently and quenching free radicals more rapidly. Therefore, the hybrid structure constructed by the nucleoside with antioxidative dipeptides offers an additional advantage for protecting DNA against radical-induced oxidation.