A Water-Soluble Synthetic Bilirubin with Carboxyl Groups Replaced by Sulfonyl Moieties

Summary.

 The first symmetrical bilirubin analog with CO₂H groups replaced by SO₃H, 8,12-bis-(2-sulfo-ethyl)-3,17-diethyl-2,7,13,18-tetramethyl-(10H,21H,23H,24H)-bilin-1,19-dione, was synthesized from methyl (2,4-dimethyl-5-ethoxycarbonyl-1H-pyrrol-3-yl) acetate in nine steps via the sulfonic acid analog of xanthobilirubic acid (XBR) and isolated as its disodium salt. The sulfonic acid group was introduced at an early stage of the synthesis by reaction of an intermediate, ethyl 4-(2-bromoethyl)-3,5-dimethyl-1H-pyrrole-2-carboxylate, with sodium sulfite. The disodium bilirubin disulfonate exhibits NMR spectroscopic properties rather similar to those of the parent carboxylic acid, mesobilirubin-XIIIα; however, its UV/Vis spectra are blue-shifted and broadened relative to those of the parent compound. Like mesobilirubin, the disulfonate displays a positive exciton chirality circular dichroism spectrum, albeit with weaker Cotton effects, in a buffered aqueous solution (pH = 7.4) containing a 2:1 molar ratio of human serum albumin.