The novel nootropic compound DM232 (UNIFIRAM) ameliorates memory impairment in mice and rats

Unifi nootropics from the lab to the web: a story of academic (and industrial) shortcomings

This paper is a review of the work of my former academic group of research in the past 15 years, in the field of cognition enhancers (also called nootropics) that identified two very potent molecules: Unifiram and Sunifiram that for a variety of reasons were not protected by a patent. Some 12 years after their disclosure (2000) I casually found that on the web, there were dozens of sites offering Unifiram and Sunifiram as drugs that improve cognition in healthy individuals even if only few preclinical studies were done and their long-term toxicity was unknown.

Pharmacological characterization of DM232 (unifiram) and DM235 (sunifiram), new potent cognition enhancers

DM232 (unifiram) and DM235 (sunifiram) are potent cognition-enhancers, which are four order of magnitude more potent than piracetam. These compounds, although not showing affinity in binding studies for the most important central receptors or channels, are able to prevent amnesia induced by modulation of several neurotransmission systems. These compounds are able to increase the release of acetylcholine from rat cerebral cortex, and, as far as unifiram is concerned, to increase the amplitude of fEPSP in rat hippocampal slices. In vitro experiments, performed on hippocampal slices, also supported the hypothesis of a role of the AMPA receptors for the cognition-enhancing properties of unifiram and sunifiram.

Structure–activity relationship studies on unifiram (DM232) and sunifiram (DM235), two novel and potent cognition enhancing drugs

Structure-activity relationships on two novel potent cognition enhancing drugs, unifiram (DM232, 1) and sunifiram (DM235, 2), are reported. Although none of the compounds synthesised reached the potency of the parent drugs, some fairly active compounds have been identified that may represent new leads to develop other cognition enhancing drugs. An interesting result of this research is the identification of two compounds (13 and 14) that are endowed with amnesing activity (the opposite of the activity of the original molecules) and are nearly equipotent to scopolamine. Moreover, two compounds of the series (5 and 6) were found endowed with analgesic activity on a rat model of neuropathic pain at the dose of 1 mg/kg.

4-Aminopiperidine derivatives as a new class of potent cognition enhancing drugs

Extrusion of one of the nitrogens of the piperazine ring of potent nootropic drugs previously described gave 4-aminopiperidine analogues that maintained high cognition enhancing activity in the mouse passive avoidance test. One of the new compounds (9, active at 0.01 mg/kg ip) may represent a new lead for the development of cognition enhancers useful to treat the cognitive deficit produced by neurodegenerative pathologies like Alzheimer's disease.