Syntheses and binding affinities of 6-nitroquipazine analogues for serotonin transporter. Part 5: 2'-Substituted 6-nitroquipazines

General Procedures for the Lithiation/Trapping of N-Boc Piperazines

To provide α-substituted piperazines for early stage medicinal chemistry studies, a simple, general synthetic approach is required. Here, we report the development of two general and simple procedures for the racemic lithiation/trapping of N-Boc piperazines. Optimum lithiation times were determined using in situ IR spectroscopy, and the previous complicated and diverse literature procedures were simplified. Subsequent trapping with electrophiles delivered a wide range of α-functionalized N-Boc piperazines. The scope and limitations of the distal N-group were investigated. The selective α- and β- arylation of N-Boc piperazines via lithiation/Negishi coupling is reported.

Synthesis, antidepressant evaluation and docking studies of long-chain alkylnitroquipazines as serotonin transporter inhibitors

Twelve alkyl analogues (1-12) of the high-affinity serotonin transporter (SERT) inhibitor 6-nitroquipazine (6-NQ) were synthesized and studied using in vitro radioligand competition binding assays to determine their binding affinity (Ki ). The putative antidepressant activity of five of the binders with the highest SERT binding affinities was studied by the forced swim and locomotor activity mouse tests. The three-dimensional (3D) structures of 8 and 9 were determined using NOE NMR technique. Flexible docking of the compounds was undertaken to illustrate the binding of the compounds in the SERT model. Our results showed that several of the 6-NQ analogues are high-affinity SERT inhibitors and indicated that the octyl (8), decyl (10) and dodecyl (12) 6-NQ analogues exhibit moderate antidepressant activity.