Piperidinyltetralin .sigma. Ligands

Sigma receptor ligands have been proposed to be potential antipsychotic drugs based on their activity profile in animal behavioral models and their indirect modulation of dopaminergic function. Compound 15 (DuP 734) is a combined antagonist of sigma-1 and serotonin 5HT2 receptors, which has been entered into phase I clinical trials as a potential antipsychotic drug. Tetralins 1 and 2 were prepared to determine whether restriction of the conformation of 15 and its analogs may lead to differences in binding selectivity or in vivo profile. The syntheses and the structure-activity relationships of these compounds are reported herein. A reduced derivative, 14, had high affinity for sigma-1 and serotonin 5HT2 receptors as well as excellent oral activity in some animal antipsychotic models. Furthermore, compound 14 failed to cause catalepsy in the rat up to 90 mg/kg (po).