Synthesis and evaluation of conformationally restricted N-[2-(3,4-dichlorophenyl)ethyl]-N-methyl-2-(1-pyrrolidinyl)ethylamines at sigma receptors. 2. Piperazines, bicyclic amines, bridged bicyclic amines, and miscellaneous compounds.

As a continuation of our earlier study (J. Med. Chem. 1992, 35, 4334-4343) we conformationally restricted the sigma-receptor ligand 2-(1-pyrrolidinyl)-N-[2-(3,4-dichlorophenyl)ethyl]-N-methylethylamine (1) by incorporating it into a series of homologous piperazines 3-9 and homopiperazines 10 and 11, diazabicyclononanes and decanes, bridgehead bicyclooctanes and nonanes as well as other miscellaneous compounds. sigma-Receptor binding affinities were obtained using 3H-pentazocine in guinea pig brain membrane sigma 1 sites. The studies suggest that the nitrogen lone pair orientation found in the piperazines affords the strongest binding interaction. Other nitrogen lone pair orientations or compounds representing unlikely staggered conformations of 1 [ as in 4-[2-(3,4-dichlorophenyl)ethyl]-1,4-diazabicyclo[3.2.2]nonane (16)] show very weak sigma interaction. Comparison of the binding data of different N-substituted homologues of 1 with those of the 1-[2-(3,4-dichlorophenyl)ethyl]-4-alkylpiperazines suggests that the two nitrogen atoms of 1 are working in opposition to one another in terms of their sensitivity to steric bulk. The high binding affinity of the 1,4-diazabicyclo[4.3.0]nonanes 12 suggests that these may approximate the methyl and pyrrolidine ring conformations found in 1 when it is bound to the sigma receptor. Compound 12 exhibited a 4-fold enantioselectivity favoring (+)-12. The synthesis of 6,7-dichloro-2-[[2-(1-pyrrolidinyl)ethyl]amino]tetralin (19) and its desmethyl derivative 20 permitted constraint of the 3,4-dichlorophenyl and N-methyl moieties of 1 into a gauche orientation. The binding data suggests that this conformation in 1 favors strong binding interaction at sigma-receptors. sigma-Receptor Ki's ranged from 0.55 nM for 1-[2-(3,4-dichlorophenyl)ethyl]-4-n-butylpiperazine (7) to 654 nM for 16. Overall comparison of the results indicate that 1 is subject to considerable conformational freedom and suggests that the sigma receptor is not subject to rigid stereochemical restraints with 1. These results add to our earlier study where we restrained 1 using simple monocyclic heterocycles.