Phenylethylamine, structure

The Amathla genus has a wide geographical distribution and its members from different oceans have given a relatively large number of alkaloids which contain the p-phenylethylamine structural unit. The compounds are all bromine-containing amides. 

As already stated, the number of substances made by chemists for pharmacological examination as possible sympathomimetic amines is enormous and the literature voluminous. Fortunately the latter has been reviewed from time to time, and most recently in the symposium in which Hartung dealt with the correlation of structure and pharmacological action in )3-phenylethylamine derivatives, which includes the more impor-... 

Fig. 7-6). Two unichiral amides which have been known capable of this reaction are 1-phenylethylamine [15] and l-(l-naphthyl)ethylamine [16]. Marfey s reagent [N-a-(2,4-dinitro-5-fluorophenyl)-L-alaninamide] was introduced as a reagent to deriva-tize amino acids with cyclopentane, tetrahydroisoquinoline or tetraline structures [17]. Simple chiral alcohols such as 2-octanol can also be used to derivatize acids such as 2-chloro-3-phenylmethoxypropionic acid [18]. 

Trace amines are a family of endogenous monoamine compounds including (3-phenylethylamine (PEA), p-tyramine (TYR), tryptamine (TRP) and octopamine (OCT). The trace amines share close structural similarity with the well known classical monoamine neurotransmitters such as dopamine (DA), norepinephrine (NE) and serotonin (5-HT). As their name suggests, trace amines occur in comparably much lower abundance than monoamine neurotransmitters. For historical reasons, other endogenous amine compounds which might share some structural similarities with PEA, TYR, TRP or OCT are not referred to as trace amines. 

Figure 13.7 Synthesis and structure of the trace amines phenylethylamine, /)-tyramine and tryptamine. These are all formed by decarboxylation rather than hydroxylation of the precursors of the established monoamine neurotransmitters, dopamine and 5-HT. (1) Decarboxylation by aromatic L-amino acid decarboxylase (2) phenylaline hydroxylase (3) tyrosine hydroxylase (4) tryptophan hydroxylase...

Figure 2, Structures of -substituted nitrosomethylethylamines nitrosomethylaniline, nitrosomethyl-benzylamine, nitrosomethyl-2-phenylethylamine, nitrosomethylneopentylamine, nitrosomethyltrideutero ethylamine, nitrosomethyltrifluoroethyl amine.

Kagan and coworkers determined and studied in detail the crystal structure of a 1 1 molecular complex between (i )-methyl p-tolyl sulfoxide (10) and S)-N-(3,5-dinitrobenzoyl)-l-phenylethylamine (11). They suggested that amide 11, which had been used as a chiral solvating agent for sulfoxides, might find use as a resolving agent for these compounds. ... 

Chemical Structures. Figure 1 shows the chemical structures for 14 phenylethylamine compounds. Nine of these compounds are used clinically as anorectics (ii-amphetamine, phentermine, diethylpropion, phenmetrazine, phendimetrazine, clotermine, chlorphentermine, benzphetamine, and fenfluramine). Four of these compounds are not approved for clinical use and are reported to have hallucinogenic properties (MDA, PMA, DOM, and DOET). The final compound ( /-ephedrine) is used clinically for bronchial muscle relaxation, cardiovascular, and mydriatic effects. Figure 2 shows the chemical structure for MDMA, the methyl analog of MDA. MDMA is not approved for clinical use and has been reported to produce both LSD-like and cocaine-like effects. 

FIGURE 1. Chemical structure of 14 of the 15 phenylethylamines tested to determine whether they maintain drug self-administration... 

STRUCTURE-ACTIVITY RELATIONSHIPS AMONG PHENYLETHYLAMINE COMPOUNDS... 

Thus, when acid 76 was crystallized as a salt with (S)-(-)-l-phenylethylamine ([S]-PEA), the X-ray structure showed that the conformational enantiomer 76a was trapped in the crystal, displaying O - H and O - Ht distances of 2.47 A and 3.41 A, respectively. The conformation of 76a placed the carbonyl oxygen and Hj, closer to the ideal values mentioned in Figure 7.26 as compared to H. A significant preference for Hj, was demonstrated after photolysis at 0 °C and diazomethane workup, when ester 77a (B) was obtained in 65% ee after 90% conversion. Figure 7.27 illustrates the minimal atomic displacements required for reaction by comparing the X-ray structure of the reactant with that of the product, and with a structure obtained at 50% conversion. Better chemical results were obtained by photolysis of 76a with (/ )-CEA, which gave 90% ee of ester of 77a (B) after diazomethane workup. 

Seven groups of these drugs can be separated based on their various chemical f structures (a) lysergic acid derivatives, of which lysergide (LSD) is the prototype (b) phenylethylamine derivatives, of which 3,4,5-trihydroxyphenylethylamine (mescaline) is the prototype (c) indolealkylamines, such as 4-phosphorodi-methyltryptamine (psilocybin) (d) other indolic derivatives, such as the harmine... 

The only aspect of octopaminergic transmission for which a relatively large amount of structure-activity data is available relates to the properties of OA-receptors themselves. Agonists that stimulate these systems and antagonists that block them, are known and such compounds exist in several structural groups. The three major groups of agonists currently identified are phenylethylamines amidines and imidazolines. 

Dobutamine Dobutamine, ( ) 4-[2(4 -hydroxyphenyl)-l-methylpropyl]-3,4-dihydrox-yphenylethylamine (11.1.31), differs significantly from all of the presented drugs in terms of structure, the main difference being the absence of a hydroxyl group at the )3-carbon atom of the phenylethylamine moiety of classic sympathomimetics. The second considerable difference from the examined drugs is the presence of p-hydroxyphenyl-iso-buty-lamine group as a terminal amine substituent. 

The hallucinogens generally fall into two chemical classes. The indole alkylamines include LSD, psilocybin, psilocin, dimethyltryptamine (DMT), and diethyltrypta-mine (DET), all of which are structurally similar to serotonin. The other chemical subclass of hallucinogens contains phenylethylamine derivatives such as mescaline, MDMA, MDA, and DOM (dimethoxymethyl amphetamine). A related stimulatory hallucinogen, PCP, is a piperidine analogue that produces unique effects. 

MAO A and B differ in primary structure and in substrate specificity [5,7]. The two isozymes, located on the mitochondrial outer membranes, have 70% homology in peptide sequence and share common mechanistic details. It is now recognized that these are different proteins encoded by different genes, but probably derived from a common ancestral gene. Crystal structures for both MAO A and B complexes with inhibitors have recently been reported [8]. Serotonin is selectively oxidized by MAO A, whereas benzylamine and 2-phenylethylamine are selective substrates for MAO B. Dopamine, norepinephrine, epinephrine, trypt-amine, and tyramine are oxidized by both MAO A and B in most species [9]. In addition, MAO A is more sensitive to inhibition by clorgyline (1), whereas MAO B is inhibited by low concentrations of L-deprenyl ((f )-( )-deprenyl) (2) [5,6cj. Development of inhibitors that are selective for each isozyme has been an extremely active area of medicinal chemistry [8]. 

In 1995, Silverman and Hawe published structure-activity studies of fluorine-substituted benzylamines and substituted 2-phenylethylamines. Introduction of one or several fluorine atoms makes these compounds good substrates for MAO B (see Table 1), but none of them was an inactivator of the enzyme [31],... 

In the late 1960s, different types of cyclopropylamines, the A/-substituted cyclopropylamines, were reported [111]. One of the most interesting compounds in the new class was A/-[2-o-chlorophenoxy]-ethyl]-cyclopropylamine (Lilly 51641) (42). This compound noncompetitively inhibited the MAO-catalyzed oxidation of serotonin, tyramine, phenylethylamine, and tryptamine in vitro and increased the serotonin concentration in the whole rat brain in vitro. In structure-activity studies on a series of m- and p-aromatic substituted A/-(phenoxyethyl)cyclopropylamines (43), the degree of inhibition correlated well with a and % values [112]. 

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