NICOTINIC AND MUSCARINIC ACTIVITY OF PHENACYL AND PHENYLALKYL TRIMETHYLAMINES

¹ Department of Pharnmacology, College of Medicine, State University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa

Some derivatives of phenacyltrimethylammonium and other aromatic trimethylammonium compounds were prepared. Their activity was studied on the blood pressure of dlogs with and without pretreatment with atropine, and on the contractions of isolated rabbit ilea. The nicotinie activity of phenacyl derivatives decreased as the electron density about the carbonyl oxygen decreased. The phenylalkyl derivatives demonstrated the importance of electronic and spatial properties that are required for nicotinic and muscaninie activity. The structural requirements for muscarinic activity seem to be more specific than that for nicotinic activity. Compounds having a distance approximately equal to three carbon atoms between the phenyl group and the quaternary nitrogen demonstrated greater nicotinic activity; and the nicotinic activity was further increased if the atom adjacent to the phenyl ring possessed a partial negative charge. Muscarinic activity was most prominent when only one carbon atom exists between the phenyl group and the quaternary nitrogen.