Nitric oxide releasing morpholine derivatives as hypolipidemic and antioxidant agents.

The synthesis and evaluation of activity of some nitric acid esters of substituted morpholines are presented. All compounds inhibit lipid peroxidation and reduce cholesterol (20-63%) and triglyceride (37-85%) plasma levels. The more potent NO donors 14 and 17 specifically reduce low-density lipoprotein (LDL). These data indicate that proper structural modifications to the hypolipidemic and antioxidant morpholines enabling NO production, besides preserving or enhancing the above activities, offer a remarkable reduction of LDL, considered advantageous for antiatheromatic agents.