The leukotrienes, metabolites of arachidonic acid produced through the action of the enzyme 5-lipoxygenase, are important mediators of immediate hypersensitivity and inflammation. Among the variety of diseases in which the leukotrienes may play a symptomatic or causative role is the dermatological condition psoriasis, a chronic proliferative disease of the skin. This study reports the synthesis and comparative biological activities of various ortho-substituted phenols including 4-methoxyphenols, 6-hydroxy-1,2,3,4-tetrahydrobenzopyrans, 2,3-dihydro-5-benzofuranols, and 5-benzofuranols. The phenols prepared in this study were evaluated for their ability to inhibit the production of leukotriene B4(LTB4) in isolated human polymorphonuclear leukocytes (PMNs) and to inhibit a topical inflammatory response in the topical mouse ear (TME) model. In the former case, when the log IC50 was plotted versus the log of the octanol/water partition coefficient (log P), to eliminate the effect of lipophilicity, the 2,3-dihydro-5-benzofuranol ring system was shown to be more potent than the other ring systems examined throughout the range of partition coefficients studied. The ability to inhibit leukotriene production in vitro in human PMNs can be rationalized on the basis of a model that suggests that the observed inhibition is dependent on the kinetic ability of the inhibitor to reduce a radical species and on the fraction of inhibitor that is partitioned into the cell membrane. While the in vivo antiinflammatory activity as measured by the TME did not correlate with the in vitro data, it was felt that the TME represented a valuable measure of the ability of a compound to penetrate the skin to the site of an ongoing inflammatory response. Of the compounds synthesized in this study, 6-[1-[2-(hydroxymethyl)phenyl]-1-propen-3-yl]-2,3-dihydro-5-benzof uranol (1, L-651896) was chosen for further development.

The enzymes that catalyze the oxidative metabolism of arachidonic acid have provided fertile ground for the development of useful therapeutic agents for nearly a quarter century. Inhibitors of the enzyme cyclooxygenase prevent the formation of the prostaglandins and thromboxanes and are clinically useful antiinflammatories and peripheral analgesics. More recently it has been discovered that the enzyme 5-lipoxygenase is the first step in the formation of a series of biologically important metabolites of arachidonic acid, the leukotrienes. Evidence suggests that an inhibitor of 5-lipoxygenase may be a useful therapeutic agent in the treatment of asthma, immediate hypersensitivity, and inflammation. Various antioxidants have been examined as inhibitors of 5-lipoxygenase in vitro. We were intrigued by recent reports that the 2,3-dihydro-5-benzofuranol ring system maximizes the stereoelectronic effects necessary for efficient hydrogen atom abstraction by peroxyl radicals. In this study we describe the synthesis of over 50 new 2,3-dihydro-5-benzofuranols and their biological evaluation as inhibitors of leukotriene biosynthesis in isolated human polymorphonuclear leukocytes. We show that the 2,3-dihydro-5-benzofuranol ring system, although not a potent inhibitor of leukotriene biosynthesis in itself, can provide a useful template for the design of antioxidant-based inhibitors of leukotriene biosynthesis. Furthermore, within a structural class the potency of a given analogue can be predicted on the basis of its overall calculated lipophilicity (log P). The data are interpreted in terms of a model in which the observed inhibition by this class of inhibitors is dependent on the intrinsic ability of the antioxidant to reduce the enzyme and on the fraction of the inhibitor that is partitioned into the membrane.

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Through-space compression effects from a pair of flanking (sentinel) groups X are shown to cause a flattening of the bridging nitrogen in symmetrically fused 7-azanorbornanes which is evaluated by a substantial reduction of the nitrogen inversion barrier as measured by low-temperature (1)H NMR spectroscopy. This effect is attributed to destabilization of the ground state of the amine.