4-Amino-6-benzylamino-1,2-dihydro-2-phenyl-1,2,4-triazolo[4, 3-a]quinoxalin-1-one (1) has been found to be an A(2A) versus A(1) selective antagonist (Colotta et al. Arch. Pharm. Pharm. Med. Chem. 1999, 332, 39-41). In this paper some novel triazoloquinoxalin-1-ones 4-25 bearing different substituents on the 2-phenyl and/or 4-amino moiety of the parent 4-amino-1, 2-dihydro-2-phenyl-1,2,4-triazolo[4,3-a]quinoxalin-1-one (3) have been synthesized and tested in radioligand binding assays at bovine A(1) and A(2A) and cloned human A(3) adenosine receptors (AR). Moreover, the binding activities at the above-mentioned AR subtypes of the 1,4-dione parent compounds 26-31 and their 5-N-alkyl derivatives 33-37 were also evaluated. The substituent on the 2-phenyl ring exerted a different effect on AR subtypes, while replacement of a hydrogen atom of the 4-amino group with suitable substituents yielded selective A(1) or A(3) antagonists. Replacement of a hydrogen atom of the 4-NH(2) with an acyl group, or replacement of the whole 4-NH(2) with a 4-oxo moiety, shifted the binding activity toward the A(3) AR. The binding results allowed elucidation of the structural requirements for the binding of these novel tricyclic derivatives at each receptor subtype. In particular, A(1) and A(2A) binding required the presence of a proton donor group at position-4, while for A(3) affinity the presence of a proton acceptor in this same region was of paramount importance.

A molecular simplification approach of previously reported 2-arylpyrazolo[3,4-c]quinolin-4-ones was applied to design 2-arylpyrazolo[4,3-d]pyrimidin-7-one derivatives as new human A(3) adenosine receptor antagonists. Substituents with different lipophilicity and steric hindrance were introduced at the 5-position of the bicyclic scaffold (R(5) = H, Me, Et, Ph, CH(2)Ph) and on the 2-phenyl ring (OMe, Me). Most of the synthesized derivatives were highly potent hA(3) adenosine receptor antagonists, the best being the 2-(4-methoxyphenyl)pyrazolo[4,3-d]pyrimidin-7-one (K(i) = 1.2 nM). The new compounds were also highly selective, being completely devoid of affinity toward hA(1), hA(2A), and hA(2B) adenosine receptors. On the basis of the recently published human A(2A) receptor crystallographic information, we propose a novel receptor-driven hypothesis to explain both A(3) AR affinity and A(3) versus A(2A) selectivity profiles of these new antagonists.

In the past few years much effort in our laboratory has been directed toward the study of adenosine receptor antagonists, and recently we focused our attention on 2-aryl-1,2,4-triazolo[4,3-a]quinoxaline-1,4-diones and 2-aryl-1,2,4-triazolo[4,3-a]quinoxalin-4-amino-1-ones, some of which were potent and/or selective A(3) receptor antagonists. In the present paper, a new series of triazoloquinoxaline derivatives is described. Most of the new compounds, biologically evaluated in radioligand binding assays at bovine (b) A(1) and A(2A) and at human (h) A(1) and A(3) adenosine receptors, showed high hA(3) adenosine receptor affinity and selectivity. In particular, 2-(4-nitrophenyl)-1,2,4,5-tetrahydro-1,2,4-triazolo[4,3-a]quinoxaline-1,4-dione (1), also tested at the hA(2A) ARs, shows the best binding profile with a high hA(3) affinity (K(i) = 0.60 nM) and strong selectivity vs hA(1) and vs hA(2A) receptors (both selectivity ratios greater than 16 600). To interpret our experimental results, we decided to theoretically depict the putative transmembrane binding motif of our triazoloquinoxaline analogues on hA(3) receptor. Structure-activity relationships have been explained analyzing the three-dimensional structure of the antagonist-receptor models obtained by molecular docking simulation.