479The crystal structureof racemiccis-4-0H-PZQ -the main metabolite of the anthelmintic drug Praziquantel -has been determined by X-ray analysisand refined to R = 0.064. In the unit cell there are two independent molecules. but with a similar confonnation. The molecules of the same enantiomer (joined by H-bonds) fonn in the crystal a column along a-axis direction. Molecular mechanics calculations indicate that the conformation in the solid state does not correspond to the energy minimum and there are two lower energy confonnations. Thus, in solutions these two confonners can most probably exist. Their concentration in solutions dependson the solvent polarity and the value of the dipole moment for the respective fonn of the molecule.Praziquantel (PZQ), an anthelmintic drug showing broad trematocidal and cestocidal activityl,2), is a pyrazino[2,1-a] isoquinolin-4-one derivative possessing an asymmetric center. The anthelmintic activity is mainly concerned with the (-)-R-enantiomer 3 -5). In our previous work 6 ) we have described the spectral properties of PZQ and some related derivatives of pyrazino[2,I-a]isoquinolin-4-0ne. We have obtained acyl (aromatic and alicy.clic) derivatives of pyrazino[2,I-a]isoquinolin-4-one. In IH_NMR spectra of aryl derivatives the signals were very broad and the 13C_NMR signals were difficult to assign. In 13C_NMR spectra of alicyclic derivatives measured in MeOD two sets of signals exist with nearly equal intensities for nearly all carbons whereas in CDCh one pair of signals is more intensive. We have presumed that these results were connected with dynamic properties of the pyrazin-4-one ring or with the rotation around the N-2 -C-12 bond. Taking into account the above results it seemed interesting to continue investigations on the preferred conformations of these compounds on the basis of x-ray data. In the pharmacological studies was stated that 4-0H-PZQ is the main metabolite of pzQI,7), so as a representative compound racemic 2-(4-cis-hydroxy-cyclohexylcarbonyl)-1,2,3,6,7,II bhexahydr0-4H-pyrazino-[2,I-cx]-isoquinolin-4-0ne (cis-4-0H-PZQ) was chosen. The stereoselective synthesis of cis-4-OH-PZQ was described 8 ).