The actions of some esters of 4-hydroxyquinuclidine on guinea-pig ileum, atria and rat fundus strip.

1 The acetyl, phenylacetyl, and diphenylacetyl esters of 4-hydroxyquinuclidine and their methiodides have been prepared.2 4-Diphenylacetoxyquinuclidine methiodide has higher affinity for muscarinic receptors than 4-diphenylacetoxy-N-methylpiperidine methiodide (4-DAMP methiodide) but it is less selective. At 30 degrees C its affinity for receptors in ileum is about 5 times that for receptors in atria, a difference similar to that found with diphenylacetoxytrophine methiodide. With 4-DAMP methiodide affinity for receptors in the ileum is over 10 times that for receptors in atria.3 4-Diphenylacetoxyquinuclidine methiodide has higher affinity for muscarinic receptors than 3-diphenylacetoxyquinuclidine hydrochloride or its methiodide.4 4-Acetoxyquinuclidine hydrochloride has less than one-hundredth of the activity of 3-acetoxyquinuclidine hydrochloride (acecyclidine) on guinea-pig ileum, atria, and rat fundus: however, 4-acetoxyquinuclidine methiodide is consistently more active than its 3-isomer, though it is only about 1/25 times as active as acecyclidine.5 4-Acetoxyquinuclidine hydrochloride is only a poor substrate for electric eel acetylcholinesterase: its affinity is similar to that of acecyclidine but it is greatly reduced by methylation.6 The relations between the structure and activity of the agonists are very different from the relations between the structure and affinity of the antagonists, which supports the view that agonists and antagonists bind to different conformations of the muscarinic receptor.