Probes for narcotic receptor mediated phenomena. 41. Unusual inverse μ-agonists and potent μ-opioid antagonists by modification of the N-substituent in enantiomeric 5- (3-hydroxyphenyl) morphans
Cheng, K.; Lee, Y.S.; Rothman, R.B.; Dersch, C.M.; Bittman, R.W.; Jacobson, A.E.; Rice, K.C.
Journal of Medicinal Chemistry 54(4): 957-969
2011
ISSN/ISBN: 1520-4804
PMID: 21247164
DOI: 10.1021/jm1011676
Accession: 055189654
Conformational restraint in the N-substituent of enantiomeric 5-(3-hydroxyphenyl)morphans was conferred by the addition of a cyclopropane ring or a double bond. All of the possible enantiomers and isomers of the N-substituted compounds were synthesized. Opioid receptor binding assays indicated that some of them had about 20-fold higher μ-affinity than the compound with an N-phenylpropyl substituent (K(i) = 2-450 nM for the examined compounds with various N-substituents). Most of the compounds acted unusually as inverse agonists in the [(35)S]GTP-γ-S functional binding assay using nondependent cells that stably express the cloned human μ-opioid receptor. Two of the N-substituted compounds with a cyclopropane ring were very potent μ-opioid antagonists ((+)-29, K(e) = 0.17 and (-)-30, K(e) =0.3) in the [(35)S]GTP-γ-S functional binding assay. By comparison of the geometry-optimized structures of the newly synthesized compounds, an attempt was made to rationalize their μ-opioid receptor affinity in terms of the spatial position of N-substituents.