The first reported twisted bis-lactam, a racemic Tröger's base (TB) analogue (2), was resolved into its enantiomers on a chiral stationary phase HPLC column. The absolute configuration of (+)-2 was determined to be (R,R)-2 by comparing experimental and calculated vibrational circular dichroism (VCD) and electronic circular dichroism (ECD) spectra. The absolute configuration of (-)-2 was determined by comparing experimental and calculated electronic circular dichroism (ECD) spectra. The corresponding theoretical spectra were calculated using the lowest energy conformation of (R,R)-2 and (S,S)-2 at the B3LYP/6-31G(d,p) level of theory. The absolute configuration of (+)-2 was also determined to (R,R)-2 by anomalous X-ray diffraction (AXRD) in a chiral space group P212121 using Cu-irradiation resulting in a very low Flack parameter of -0.06(3), despite the heaviest element being an oxygen atom, thus unambiguously confirming the results from the spectroscopic studies. We conclude that, for the Tröger's base (TB) analogue (2), we may rank the reliability of the individual methods for AC determination as AXRD ≫ VCD > ECD, while the synergy of all three methods provides very strong confidence in the assigned ACs of (+)-(R,R)-2 and (-)-(S,S)-2.

Uptake of the major excitatory neurotransmitter in the CNS, (S)-glutamate, is mediated by a family of excitatory amino acid transporters (EAAT). Previously we have explored the structure-activity relationship (SAR) of a series of EAAT1 selective inhibitors, leading to the development of the potent inhibitors UCPH-101 and UCPH-102. In the present study, we set out to improve the solubility properties of these EAAT1 inhibitors with the objective to develop analogs more suited as pharmacological tools for in vivo studies of EAAT1 in terms of their bioavailability. A total of 23 novel UCPH-101/102 analogs were designed, synthesized and characterized pharmacologically at EAAT1-3 in a [(3)H]-D-aspartate uptake assay. Most notably, the potent EAAT1 inhibition displayed of UCPH-101 and UCPH-102 was retained in analog 1d in which the napht-1-yl group in the 7-position of UCPH-102 has been replaced by an o-biphenyl moiety. In contrast, EAAT1 activity was dramatically compromised in analogs 1e and 1f comprising m- and p-biphenyl groups as 7-substituents, respectively. Analog 1d displayed low bioavailability after oral administration in rats, and this problem was addressed by the synthesis of a series of analogs with different chloro, fluoro, methoxy, triflouromethyl and carboxy substitution patterns at the o-biphenyl group of 1d (1h-1s) and m- and p-pyridine analogs of 1d (1t and 1v). Unfortunately, all of the modifications resulted in substantial decreased EAAT1 inhibitory activity, which supports the notion of a very lipophilic binding pocket in EAAT1 for the aromatic 7-substituent in these ligands. In conclusion, while we have not succeeded in developing UCPH-101/102 analogs possessing improved bioavailability properties, this study does offer interesting SAR information about this inhibitor class, and analog 1d seems to be an interesting lead for future SAR studies with focus on the development of more potent EAAT1 inhibitors.

Although the selective excitatory amino acid transporter subtype 1 (EAAT1) inhibitor UCPH-101 has become a standard pharmacological tool compound for in vitro and ex vivo studies in the EAAT research field, its inability to penetrate the blood-brain barrier makes it unsuitable for in vivo studies. In the present study, per os (p.o.) administration (40 mg kg(-1) ) of the closely related analogue UCPH-102 in rats yielded respective plasma and brain concentrations of 10.5 and 6.67 μm after 1 h. Three analogue series were designed and synthesized to improve the bioavailability profile of UCPH-102, but none displayed substantially improved properties in this respect. In vitro profiling of UCPH-102 (10 μm) at 51 central nervous system targets in radioligand binding assays strongly suggests that the compound is completely selective for EAAT1. Finally, in a rodent locomotor model, p.o. administration of UCPH-102 (20 mg kg(-1) ) did not induce acute effects or any visible changes in behavior.

In the present study, we made further investigations on the structure-activity requirements of the selective excitatory amino acid transporter 1 (EAAT1) inhibitor, 2-amino-4-(4-methoxyphenyl)-7-(naphthalen-1-yl)-5-oxo-5,6,7,8-tetrahydro-4H-chromene-3-carbonitrile (UCPH-101), by exploring 15 different substituents (R(1) ) at the 7-position in combination with eight different substituents (R(2) ) at the 4-position. Among the 63 new analogues synthesized, we identified a number of compounds that unexpectedly displayed inhibitory activities at EAAT1 in light of understanding the structure-activity relationship (SAR) of this inhibitor class extracted from previous studies. Moreover, the nature of the R(1) and R(2) substituents were observed to contribute to the functional properties of the various analogues in additive and non-additive ways. Finally, separation of the four stereoisomers of analogue 14 g (2-amino-4-([1,1'-biphenyl]-4-yl)-3-cyano-7-isopropyl-5-oxo-5,6,7,8-tetrahydro-4H-chromene) was carried out, and in agreement with a study of a related scaffold, the R configuration at C4 was found to be mandatory for inhibitory activity, while both the C7 diastereomers were found to be active as EAAT1 inhibitors. A study of the stereochemical stability of the four pure stereoisomers 14 g-A-D showed that epimerization takes places at C7 via a ring-opening, C-C bond rotation, ring-closing mechanism.