American Chemical Society, Journal of Medicinal Chemistry, 2(49), p. 575-581, 2005
DOI: 10.1021/jm050552y
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This paper describes the synthesis of racemic 3,5-dihydro-5-methyl-7,8-methylenedioxy-4H-2,3-benzodiazepin-4-one (+/-)-5, attempted stereoselective synthesis of its enantiomers, chiral HPLC resolution of the racemate, and assignment of the absolute configuration. Enantiomer (5S)-(-)-5 is provided with an in vivo anticonvulsant activity 8 times higher than its enantiomer (5R)-(+)-5. This result is confirmed in the in vitro test by the ability to inhibit the kainate-induced increase of the [Ca(2+)](i) in a primary culture of rat cerebellar granule cells which express alpha-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-isoxazole propionic acid (AMPA) receptors. Binding affinity of compound (+/-)-5 at the AMPA and N-methyl-d-aspartic acid (NMDA) receptors was also evaluated.