Alvameline

Alvameline
Systematic (IUPAC) name
3-(2-ethyltetrazol-5-yl)-1-methyl-5,6-dihydro-2H-pyridine
Clinical data
Identifiers
120241-31-8 Yes
None
PubChem CID 178030
ChemSpider 154980 Yes
UNII 4XFD7B36M6 Yes
ChEMBL CHEMBL131428 Yes
Chemical data
Formula C9H15N5
193.25 g/mol
 Yes (what is this?)  (verify)

Alvameline (Lu 25-109) is a M1 receptor agonist and M2/M3 receptor antagonist[1] that was under investigation for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease, but produced poor results in clinical trials[2] and was subsequently discontinued.

Synthesis

Though the exact cause of Alzheimer’s disease is still unclear, evidence points to the utility of increasing acetylcholine (ACh) levels for treating that condition. Most approaches are aimed at devising inhibitors of cholinesterase, the enzyme that destroys ACh. A quite different tack involves developing compounds that have cholinergic activity in their own right. The tetrazole alvameline (), for example, was developed as a bioisostere of the muscarinic cholinergic compound arecoline (). The design devolves on the fact that the proton on a free tetrazole shows a pKa comparable to that of a carboxylic acid. Fully substituted tetrazoles as in (), may thus in some ways may be viewed as surrogate esters.

Alkylation of nicotinonitrile () with methyl iodide affords methiodide (). Treatment of this intermediate with borohydride reduces it to tetrahydropyridine () in which the position of the double bond mimics that in arecoline. Reaction of () with ethyl chloroformate results in N-demethylation and consequent formation of the corresponding carbamate. The nitrile group is then transformed to a tetrazole by reaction with sodium azide in the presence of aluminum chloride, one of the standard procedures for building that ring. The surrogate acid is then alkylated with ethyl iodide to afford (). Treatment with acid then removes the carbamate on the ring nitrogen (). The methyl group on the piperidine ring is restored by reaction with formaldehyde and formic acid, under standard Eschweiler–Clarke conditions. Thus, the muscarinic agonist () is obtained.[3]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Sánchez C, Arnt J, Didriksen M, Dragsted N, Moltzen Lenz S, Matz J (June 1998). "In vivo muscarinic cholinergic mediated effects of Lu 25-109, a M1 agonist and M2/M3 antagonist in vitro". Psychopharmacology 137 (3): 233–40. doi:10.1007/s002130050615. PMID 9683000.
  2. ↑ Sramek JJ, Forrest M, Mengel H, Jhee SS, Hourani J, Cutler NR (1998). "A bridging study of LU 25-109 in patients with probable Alzheimer's disease". Life Sciences 62 (3): 195–202. doi:10.1016/S0024-3205(97)01087-4. PMID 9488097.
  3. ↑ Moltzen, E. K.; Pedersen, H.; Boegesoe, K. P.; Meier, E.; Frederiksen, K.; Sanchez, C.; Lemboel, H. L. (1994). "Bioisosteres of Arecoline: 1,2,3,6-Tetrahydro-5-pyridyl-Substituted and 3-Piperidyl-Substituted Derivatives of Tetrazoles and 1,2,3-Triazoles. Synthesis and Muscarinic Activity". Journal of Medicinal Chemistry 37 (24): 4085–4099. doi:10.1021/jm00050a006. PMID 7990109.