Experimental and theoretical studies on three spiromuscar-3-one M1 agonist derivatives

Muscarone analogues are compounds that have been proposed for the prevention or treatment of senile dementias. ARL-16607 1), ARL-15467 (11), ARL-14995 (III) and YM-796 (IV) are spiromuscar-3-one derivatives and behave as muscarinic M-1 agonists, with different binding selectivity and efficacy at the M, receptors. In this work, we have elucidated the solid-state structures of I-III and compared the results obtained with the data available in the literature for TV. The solid-state arrangements of I-IV have then been used to input a series of theoretical calculations. For each molecule, eight conformations have been modeled and the obtained structures (1-32) have been submitted to a series of molecular dynamics/simulated annealing and molecular mechanics calculations aimed to explore the conformational freedom of the spiromuscar-3-one moiety. Some hints about the reactivity of I-IV have been obtained by performing Hartree-Fock, density functional theory and semiempirical quantum mechanics calculations. These studies analyzed the properties of the frontier orbitals and of the molecular electrostatic potential of I-IV. The information gained has been used to explain the better efficacy and poorer selectivity shown by III. Our results suggest that the behavior of III is due to its smaller size, the features of its molecular surface, the shape of its electrostatic potential and the orientation of its reactive domains.