Deconstruction - reconstruction approach to analyze the essential structural elements of tetrahydro-3-benzazepine-based antagonists of GluN2B subunit containing NMDA receptors

The role of the phenolic and benzylic OH moieties for the interaction of tetrahydro-3-benzazepine-1,7-diol 3d with GluN2B subunit containing NMDA receptors was analyzed by their stepwise removal. Elimination of trifluormethanesulfinate from 10 and 13 represent the key steps in the synthesis. Removal of phenolic OH moiety led to 5-fold reduced GluN2B affinity of 4d compared with 3d. Additional removal of the benzylic OH moiety (5d) resulted in further reduced GluN2B affinity but increased σ₁ and σ₂ affinities. Introduction of a NO₂ (6d) or NH₂ moiety (7d) decreased the GluN2B affinity. 3-Benzazepin-1-ol 4i with the N-phenylcyclohexyl side chain showed the highest GluN2B affinity of this series of compounds (K_i = 2.2 nM) and, moreover, high selectivity over the PCP binding site, σ₁ and σ₂ receptors. In docking studies 3-benzazepines (S)-4-7 adopt the same binding poses as ifenprodil and display the same crucial interactions. Unexpectedly, the high-affinity ligands (S)-4i, (S)-4j, and (S)-6i were not able to inhibit the glutamate/glycine evoked current in two-electrode voltage clamp measurements and the cytotoxic effects of glutamate/glycine on transfected cell lines.