Syntheses and structure-activity relationships of 5,6,7, 8-tetrahydro-5,5,8,8-tetramethyl-2-quinoxaline derivatives with retinoic acid receptor alpha agonistic activity.

In the course of our studies on retinoic acid receptor (RAR) agonists, we have designed and synthesized a series of quinoxaline derivatives. One of them, 4-[5-(5,6,7,8-tetrahydro-5,5,8, 8-tetramethyl-2-quinoxalinyl)-1H-2-pyrrolyl]benzoic acid (3a), which possesses a 2,5-disubstituted pyrrole moiety, showed selectivity for the RARalpha receptor and exerted highly potent cell-differentiating activity on HL-60 cells.