3-(5-Alkylamino-4-isoxazolyl)-1,2,5,6-tetrahydropyridines: a novel class of central nicotinic receptor ligands

Synthesis, crystal structure, Hirshfeld surface analysis, DFT and NBO study of ethyl 1-(4-fluoro-phen-yl)-4-[(4-fluoro-phen-yl)amino]-2,6-diphenyl-1,2,5,6-tetra-hydro-pyridine-3-carboxyl-ate

The title com-pound, C32H28F2N2O2, a highly functionalized tetra-hydro-pyridine, was synthesized by a one-pot multi-com-ponent reaction of 4-fluoro-aniline, ethyl aceto-acetate and benzaldehyde at room temperature using sodium lauryl sulfate as a catalyst. The com-pound crystallizes with two mol-ecules in the asymmetric unit. The tetra-hydro-pyridine ring adopts a distorted boat conformation in both mol-ecules and the dihedral angles between the planes of the fluoro-substituted rings are 77.1 (6) and 77.3 (6)°. The amino group and carbonyl O atom are involved in an intra-molecular N-H⋯O hydrogen bond, thereby generating an S(6) ring motif. In the crystal, mol-ecules are linked by C-H⋯F hydrogen bonds forming a three-dimensional network and C-H⋯π inter-actions. A Hirshfeld surface analysis of the crystal structure indicates that the most important contributions to the crystal packing are from H⋯H (47.9%), C⋯H/H⋯C (30.7%) and F⋯H/H⋯F (12.4%) contacts. The optimized structure calculated using density functional theory (DFT) at the B3LYP/6-311+G(2d,p) level is compared with the experimentally determined molecular structure in the solid state. The HOMO-LUMO behaviour was used to determine the energy gap and the Natural Bond Orbital (NBO) analysis was done to study donor-acceptor interconnections.

Application of a novel deep eutectic solvent as a capable and new catalyst for the synthesis of tetrahydropyridines and 1,3-thiazolidin-4-ones

A novel deep eutectic solvent (ETPP-Br/THF-TCA-DES) was prepared by a mixture of ethyl triphenylphosphonium bromide (ETPP-Br) and tetrahydrofuran-2,3,4,5-tetra-carboxylic acid (THF-TCA, mole ratio 7:3), characterized by FT-IR, TGA/DTA, densitometer, eutectic point, and ¹H NMR techniques and used as a capable and new catalyst for the synthesis of two sets of compounds: (1) the four new [a(1-4)] and the eleven [a(5-15)] known alkyl 1,2,6-trisubstituted-4-[(hetero)arylamino]-1,2,5,6-tetrahydropyridine-3-carboxylates and (2) the two new [b(1-2)] and the eight [b(3-10)] known 1,3-thiazolidin-4-ones in DES with short reaction time, high yields, and easy recycling and separation of the DES catalyst. There is a nice consistency between the proposed structure of the DES compound, the integration values of the ¹H NMR peaks and the ratio of ETPP-Br to THF-TCA obtained from the eutectic point phase diagram. Also, the decrease in splitting patterns of the peaks in DES, compared to the two starting materials can be the good evidence of the hydrogen bond formation between the two components.

The synthetic and therapeutic expedition of isoxazole and its analogs

Isoxazole, constituting an important family of five-membered heterocycles with one oxygen atom and one nitrogen atom at adjacent positions is of immense importance because of its wide spectrum of biological activities and therapeutic potential. It is, therefore, of prime importance that the development of new synthetic strategies and designing of new isoxazole derivatives should be based on the most recent knowledge emerging from the latest research. This review is an endeavor to highlight the progress in the chemistry and biological activity of isoxazole derivatives which could provide a low-height flying bird's eye view of isoxazole derivatives to the medicinal chemists for the development of clinically viable drugs using this information.

Drug discrimination: A versatile tool for characterization of CNS safety pharmacology and potential for drug abuse

Drug discrimination studies for assessment of psychoactive properties of drugs in safety pharmacology and drug abuse and drug dependence potential evaluation have traditionally been focused on testing novel compounds against standard drugs for which drug abuse has been documented, e.g. opioids, CNS stimulants, cannabinoids etc. (e.g. Swedberg & Giarola, 2015), and results are interpreted such that the extent to which the test drug causes discriminative effects similar to those of the standard training drug, the test drug would be further characterized as a potential drug of abuse. Regulatory guidance for preclinical assessment of abuse liability by the European Medicines Agency (EMA, 2006), the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA, 2010), the International Conference of Harmonization (ICH, 2009), and the Japanese Ministry of Health Education and Welfare (MHLW, 1994) detail that compounds with central nervous system (CNS) activity, whether by design or not, need abuse and dependence liability assessment. Therefore, drugs with peripheral targets and a potential to enter the CNS, as parent or metabolite, are also within scope (see Swedberg, 2013, for a recent review and strategy). Compounds with novel mechanisms of action present a special challenge due to unknown abuse potential, and should be carefully assessed against defined risk criteria. Apart from compounds sharing mechanisms of action with known drugs of abuse, compounds intended for indications currently treated with drugs with potential for abuse and or dependence are also within scope, regardless of mechanism of action. Examples of such compounds are analgesics, anxiolytics, cognition enhancers, appetite control drugs, sleep control drugs and drugs for psychiatric indications. Recent results (Swedberg et al., 2014; Swedberg & Raboisson, 2014; Swedberg, 2015) on the metabotropic glutamate receptor type 5 (mGluR5) antagonists demonstrate that compounds causing hallucinatory effects in humans did not exhibit clear discriminative effects when tested against classical drugs of abuse in drug discrimination studies, and were not self-administered by rats. However, these compounds did cause salient discriminative effects of their own in animals trained to discriminate them from no drug. Therefore, from a safety pharmacology perspective, novel compounds that do not cause discriminative effects similar to classical drugs of abuse, may still cause psychoactive effects in humans and carry the potential to maintain drug abuse, suggesting that proactive investigation of drug abuse potential is warranted (Swedberg, 2013). These and other findings will be discussed, and the application of drug discrimination procedures beyond the typical standard application of testing novel compounds against known and well characterized reference drugs will be addressed.

Recent developments in multicomponent synthesis of structurally diversified tetrahydropyridines

Tetrahydropyridines (THPDs) have recognized as a major constituent of naturally occurring alkaloids and exhibits various biological and pharmacological profiles. For their synthesis, MCRs are employed as an excellent tool to generate vast libraries.

Nicotinic agonists, antagonists, and modulators from natural sources

1. Acetylcholine receptors were initially defined as nicotinic or muscarinic, based on selective activation by two natural products, nicotine and muscarine. Several further nicotinic agonists have been discovered from natural sources, including cytisine, anatoxin, ferruginine, anabaseine, epibatidine, and epiquinamide. These have provided lead structures for the design of a wide range of synthetic agents. 2. Natural sources have also provided competitive nicotinic antagonists, such as the Erythrina alkaloids, the tubocurarines, and methyllycaconitine. Noncompetitive antagonists, such as the histrionicotoxins, various izidines, decahydroquinolines, spiropyrrolizidine oximes, pseudophrynamines, ibogaine, strychnine, cocaine, and sparteine have come from natural sources. Finally, galanthamine, codeine, and ivermectin represent positive modulators of nicotinic function, derived from natural sources. 3. Clearly, research on acetylcholine receptors and functions has been dependent on key natural products and the synthetic agents that they inspired.