Synthesis, structure, and pharmacological evaluation of the stereoisomers of furnidipine.

The synthesis and pharmacological activities of the four stereoisomers of methyl tetrahydrofuran-2-ylmethyl 2,6-dimethyl-4-(2'-nitrophenyl)-1,4-dihydropyridine-3,5- dicarboxylate(furnidipine) are reported. The four isomers were synthesized by a modified Hantzsch synthesis by reaction of (-)- or (+)-tetrahydrofuran-2-ylmethyl 3-aminocrotonate and methyl 2-[(2'-nitrophenyl)methylene]acetoacetate or, alternatively, by reaction of (-)- or (+)-tetrahydrofuran-2-ylmethyl 2-[(2'-nitrophenyl)methylene]acetoacetate and methyl 3-aminocrotonate. The 1:1 diastereomeric mixtures thus obtained were separated by chromatography, using poly(D-phenylglycine) as the chiral stationary phase. The enantiomeric purity of the stereoisomers was determined by a high-performance liquid chromatography-chiral stationary phase technique (HPLC-CSP). Attempts to obtain crystals of a single stereoisomer failed in different solvents, while methanol crystallization of the product obtained from (+/-)-tetrahydrofuran-2-ylmethyl 2-[(2'-nitrophenyl)methylene]acetoacetate and methyl 3-aminocrotonate yielded good-quality crystals of the most insoluble racemate which proved to be a mixture of the (SS)/(RR) enantiomers by X-ray crystallography. Conformational analysis of the stereoisomers, assuming rotation of the aryl substituent and ester groups, shows small energy differences (about 4 kcal.mol-1) between the most and the least favorable conformations. Binding studies were performed using [3H]isradipine as a reference ligand. The results showed stereospecificity of the furnidipine isomers in brain, ileum, and cardiac tissues, the (SS)- and (SR)-isomers clearly being more potent than their (RR)- and (RS)-enantiomers. The (SS)- and (SR)-isomers were also more selective on cerebral tissue when compared with ileal and cardiac preparations.