TRICYCLIC PYRIDINE-DERIVATIVES WITH HIGH-AFFINITY TO THE CENTRAL BENZODIAZEPINE RECEPTOR

Novel tricyclic heterocycles were prepared and evaluated for their affinity to the central benzodiazepine receptor. The most potent compounds with IC50's in the nanomolar range were; found among thienoquinolizines and benzo[a]quinolizines (cf. Tables 2–5). The central ring of the tricyclic ring system may be partially unsaturated (cf. Tables 2 and 4) or fully unsaturated (cf. Tables 3 and 5) without loss of the high affinity to the receptor. The position of the ester group in the pyridinone ring is crucial for good binding (cf. Tables 1 and 2). It may be replaced by a broad variety of functional groups, e.g. amides, alkyl carbamates, alkyl groups, and hydroxyalkyl groups (cf. Tables 2–5). In the benzo[a]quinolizines, shifting the halogen atom from C(10) to C(9) leads to complete loss of affinity to the benzodiazepine receptor (cf. Table 4). Copyright © 1990 Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim