Synthesis and pharmacological activity of 1,3,6-trisubstituted-4-oxo-1,4-dihydroquinoline-2-carboxylic acids as selective ET(A) antagonists.

A series of 1,3,6-trisubsituted-4-oxo-1,4-dihyroquinoline-2-carboxylic acid analogs (2a-m) were designed and synthesized and their pharmacological activity determined, with the objective to better understand their SAR as potential ET(A) selective inhibitors. Most of the compounds displayed significant ET(A) antagonist activity having IC(50) for inhibition of binding of the [(125)I]ET-1 to ET(A) receptor <10 nM, with good selectivity for ET(A) antagonism over ET(B) receptor. Based on the in vitro results, SAR of this series of compounds requires an alkoxy substituent at the 6-position to be a straight and saturated chain up to three carbons long, since substitution of unsaturated and branched alkyloxy groups results in decrease in ET(A) antagonist activity. In this series, compound 2c (6-O-n-propyl analog) was found to be most potent (IC(50)=0.11 nM) with ET(B)/ET(A) selectivity of 8303.