The oxadiazoles 32c and 32h contained the same number and types of heteroatoms in the 2‚-substituent but the binding potencies were 8-folddifferent. Similarly, 32g and 32i both had one nitrogen and one oxygen in the 2‚-substituent, but 32g was 15 times more potent at the DAT compared to 32i.
To explore the possibility that the differences inbinding potencies of the 2‚-heterocyclic phenyltropanes were due to electrostatic interactions, molecular electrostatic potentials (MEP) in the vicinity of the atoms at positions A-C in the model compound (34; Figure 9) were examined. In this model, phenyltropane moiety was replaced by a methyl group. The differences in the electrostatic potential minima near position A (¢Vmin(A)) were calculated using semiempirical (AM1) quantum mechanics calculations after superimposing the heterocyclic and the phenyl rings to minimize steric and conformational effects. A strong correlation between ¢V min (A) and affinity at the DAT was obtained. The ¢Vmin(A) values for 32c, 32g, 32h, and 32i were 0, -4, -50, and -63 kcal/mol, respectively.
It should be noted that an increasingly negative Vmin in the vicinity of hydrogen-bond acceptor atoms is correlated with an increase in the strength of associated hydrogen bonds.
Thus, higher affinity at the DAT appeared to be associated with relatively less negative ¢V min values. In other words, the observed correlation was against the hydrogen-bond interaction in the heterocyclic analogues.
Thus, it can be stated that the binding of analogues possessing 2‚-substituents, which arecapable of participating in electrostatic interactions, may be dominated by electrostatic factors rather than hydrogen bonding.