3-Carboxy-pyrazolinalanine as a new scaffold for developing potent and selective NMDA receptor antagonists.

A synthetic method for the preparation of suitably protected 3-carboxy-Δ2-pyrazolin-5-yl-alanine was developed. This scaffold is amenable to further decoration at the N1 position and was used to generate novel NMDA receptor ligands. Although weaker than the previously reported N1-Ph derivatives, the new ligands retain the ability to selectively bind to NMDA receptor with micromolar to submicromolar affinity. Considering the relevance of the N-functionalization for the biological activity, the results presented in this communication are preliminary to a full SAR study of this novel class of NMDA receptor antagonists.