Phenylethylamines substituted, comparative

On comparing the activities of the five compounds for which numerical estimates are available in all three assays (synephrine, octopamine, phenylethanolamine, norepinephrine and tyramine) the rank orders of potency in the three systems are Crayfish, 1,2,3t4,5 Cockroach, 2,1,3,4,5 Locust 1,2,3t5,4. This indicates a basic similarity in the responses of these preparations. In each case it was found that ring hydroxylation of the phenylethylamine nucleus was not essential for activity, although p-hydroxylation does yield the best activity. This is particularly evident in the crayfish study where a-MAMBA (a-methylaminomethyl benzyl alcohol), the analog of synephrine which lacks ring substitution, was one of the most active compounds tested, and 3-phenylethanolamine, the corresponding analog of OA, is almost as active as OA. The base compound for this series, phenylethylamine, also shows appreciable activity, but only in the crayfish assay. 

Table III. Comparative Activity of Substituted Phenylethylamines in Three Octopamine-sensitive Systems from Arthropods.

Our agonist studies were designed to further document the effect of lower doses of OA on male sensitivity to pheromone (as shown in Figure 1), and to provide a pharmacological profile that could be compared with data from other published studies on OA receptors (12-14). The compounds included 1) the phenylethylamines synephrine and dopamine, 2) the formamidine chlordimeform, and 3) the substituted imidazolines naphazoline (2-[ 1-naphthylmethyl] imidazoline ), lofexidine (2-[ l-(2,6-dichlorophenoxy)ethyl]-2-imidazoline), XAMI (2,3-xylylaminomethyl-2-imidazoline), clonidine (2-(2,6-dichloro-anilino)-2-imidazoline), tolazoline (2-benzyl-2-imidazoline), and tramazoline (2-[5,6,7,8-tetrahydro-1-naphthyl]amino-2-imidazoline) ... 

Nucleophilic substitution reactions that occur under conditions of amine deamination often differ significantly in stereochemistry, compared with that seen in halide or arenesulfonate solvolysis. The results of four key substrates are summarized in Table 5.13. It can be seen (entry 1) that displacement of nitrogen on the 1-butyldiazonium ion is much less stereospecific than the 100% inversion observed on acetolysis of the corresponding brosylate. Similarly, the secondary system (entry 2) affords 2-butyl acetate with only 28% inversion of configuration. Furthermore, a crossover to net retention of configuration is observed as the alkyl group becomes better able to stabilize a carbonium ion. The small net retention (10%) observed in deamination of 1-phenylethylamine increases to 28% retention in the tertiary benzylic system 2-phenyl-2-butylamine. 

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