Journal of the American Chemical Society, Vol.138, No.5, 1506-1509, 2016
Differential Binding of Rimantadine Enantiomers to Influenza A M2 Proton Channel
Rimantadine hydrochloride (alpha-methyl-1-adamantane-methalamine hydrochloride) is a chiral compound which exerts antiviral activity against the influenza A virus by inhibiting proton conductance of the M2 ion channel. In complex with M2, rimantadine has always been characterized as a racemic mixture. Here, we report the novel enantioselective synthesis of deuterium labeled (R)- and (S)-rimantadine and the characterization of their protein ligand interactions using solid-state NMR. Isotropic chemical shift changes strongly support differential binding of the enantiomers to the proton channel. Position restrained simulations satisfying distance restraints from C-13-H-2 rotational-echo double-resonance NMR show marked differences in the hydrogen-bonding pattern of the two enantiomers at the binding site. Together these results suggest a complex set of interactions between (R)-rimantadine and the M2 proton channel, leading to a higher stability for this enantiomer of the drug in the channel pore.