2-aminopyridines as highly selective inducible nitric oxide synthase inhibitors. Differential binding modes dependent on nitrogen substitution.

4-Methylaminopyridine (4-MAP) (5) is a potent but nonselective nitric oxide synthase (NOS) inhibitor. While simple N-methylation in this series results in poor activity, more elaborate N-substitution such as with 4-piperidine carbamate or amide results in potent and selective inducible NOS inhibition. Evidently, a flipping of the pyridine ring between these new inhibitors allows the piperidine to interact with different residues and confer excellent selectivity.