Abstract

4-Hydroxycoumarins such as warfarin 1 have been the mainstay of oral anticoagulation therapy for over 20 years. Yet little detail is known about the molecular interactions between 4-hydroxycoumarins with vitamin K epoxide reductase (VKER), inhibition of which produces a deficiency of vitamin K and consequently a deficiency of vitamin K-dependent proteins involved in thrombus formation. Using molecular probes, such as 4-sulfhydrylwarfarin 7 and 4-chlorowarfarin 10 it is shown in vitro that inhibition of VKER by warfarin is dependent on deprotonation of the 4-hydroxycoumarin moiety. In addition, the nature of the substituent on carbon 3 of the 4-hydroxycoumarin modulated inhibition. More specifically, a linear isoprenyl side chain increased inhibition of VKER when compared to cyclical substituents as present in warfarin. An example of a 4-hydroxycoumarin with an isoprenyl side chain is the natural product ferulenol 19 derived from Ferula communis. Ferulenol 19 confers approximately 22 times more potent inhibition than warfarin and is approximately 1.5 more potent than the rodenticide brodifacoum in this in vitro assay. Based on these data it is hypothesized that 4-hydroxycoumarins bind to the active site of VKER thereby mimicking the transition state of the elimination of water from substrate 2-hydroxyvitamin K.