Synthesis and biological activity of NK-2 selective tachykinin antagonists containing D-tryptophan.

By introducing D-Trp in position 6 and 8 along with pyroglutamic acid (Pyr) in position 4 or Nle in position 10 of NKA(4-10) we have obtained selective although weak NK-2 tachykinin receptor antagonists. Similar substitutions, previously reported on the sequence of SP, gave rise to nonselective antagonists presumably for the limited selectivity of the agonist used as template. Further modifications like the addition of a third D-Trp in position 9 gave rise to more potent but less selective antagonists, thus showing that each amino acid substitution can dramatically affect selectivity.