Congeners of the beta conformer of dopamine derived from cis- and trans-octahydrobenzo[f]quinoline and trans-octahydrobenzo[g]quinoline.

The so-called beta conformer of dopamine has been proposed to be involved in agonist--receptor interactions at several sites in the dopaminergic nervous system. Further to evaluate this proposal, rigid congeners of the beta conformer derived from linearly and angularly annelated octahydrobenzoquinolines have been synthesized. Certain N-alkylated trans-angularly annelated systems exhibited unusually potent and highly selective dopamine-like effects in an assay on a cardioaccelerator nerve preparation in the cat, but these compounds were inactive in a variety of assays for CNS effects. These compounds present a clear separation of CNS effects from some potent peripheral effects.