Muscarinic acetylcholine receptor-active compounds have potential for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease. In this study, a series of natural and synthetic flavones and flavonols was assayed in vitro for their ability to inhibit radioligand binding at human cloned M 1 muscarinic receptors. Several compounds were found to possess competitive binding affinity (K i = 40-110 µM), comparable to that of acetylcholine (K i = 59 µM). Despite the fact that these compounds lack a positively-charged ammonium group under physiological conditions, molecular modelling studies suggested that they bind to the orthosteric site of the receptor, mainly through non-polar interactions.