A series of 8-chloro-1-methyl-6-phenyl-4H-s-triazolo[4,3-a][1,4]benzodiazepines with substituents at C-4 was prepared and evaluated for antianxiety potential. It was found that substitution at this position generally decreased the activity in this series.

A series of 1-(aminoalkyl)-6-aryl-4H-s-triazolo[4,3-a][1,4]benzodiazepines has been prepared and evaluated for central nervous system activity. We have found that members of this series have activity in pharmacological test systems designed to detect both anxiolytic and antidepressant activity. Each type of activity could be varied independently by appropriate substituent selections.

No abstract

A series of 4-arylcy clohex-3-en-1 -ones was prepared in several steps from 4-hydroxy cyclohexanone and the appropriate Grignard reagents. The ketones were elaborated to the corresponding 4-arylcyclohex-3en-l-ylamines. These were converted to several derivatives, including piperidines and 4-fluoro-4-butyrophenones. The products were tested in a series of assays for CNS activity; the last compounds were particularly active on both overt behavior and biochemical parameters.In the course of general screening, arylcyclohexylamine(1) was found to exhibit interesting activity on various parameters of the CNS assay. We thus set about the preparation of analogs in order to delineate the scope of this lead.The synthetic route we chose led through the corresponding 3 compounds. The finding that these, too, possessed activity led us to prepare derivatives of these as well. This communication describes that work; the reduced compounds are reported in a subsequent paper. 1 Synthesis. Though arylcyclohexylamines with functionality at the 4 position are known, the methods used to prepare these lack versatility.1'2 The recent availability of a convenient method for large-scale preparation of 4-hydroxy-cyclohexanone3 led us to design a route based on this intermediate.