Synthesis and biological activities of optical isomers of 2-(4-diphenylmethyl-1-piperazinyl)ethyl methyl 1,4-dihydro-2,6-dimethyl-4-(3-nitrophenyl)-3,5-pyridinedicarboxylate (manidipine) dihydrochloride.

Enantiomeric (+)- and (-)-manidipine (1) dihydrochlorides were synthesized by the esterification of the optically active monocarboxylic acids (-)-6 and (+)-6, respectively. The absolute configurations, (S)-(+)-1 and (R)-(-)-1, were unambiguously determined by X-ray crystallographic analysis of (+)-7 derived from (-)-6. The (S)-(+)-1 was about 30 and 80 times as potent as the (R)-(-)-isomer in antihypertensive activity in spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR), and in the radioligand binding assay using [3H]nitrendipine, respectively.