Basic side chains determine the pharmacology of selective estrogen receptor modulators such as tamoxifen or raloxifene. In this study we tried to turn the hormonal profile of (4R,5S)/(4S,5R)-4,5-bis(4-hydroxyphenyl)-2-imidazolines from agonistic to antagonistic by introduction of a dimethylaminoethane, a piperidin-1-ylethane, or a pyrrolidin-1-ylethane side chain into one of the 4-hydroxyphenyl rings. The compounds were tested for agonistic and antagonistic activity on hormone sensitive, ERalpha-positive MCF7-2a cells, stably transfected with the plasmid ERE(wtc)luc and on U-2 OS cells transiently transfected with plasmids encoding for ERalpha (pSG5-ERalpha) or ERbeta (pSG5-ERbeta FL) as well as the reporter plasmid (ERE)(2)luc(+). Despite the presence of a basic side chain, the majority of the 4,5-diaryl-2-imidazolines showed agonistic effects. The most active compound, (4R,5S)/(4S,5R)-4-(2-chloro-4-(2-piperidin-1-ylethoxy)phenyl)-5-(2,6-dichloro-4-hydroxyphenyl)-2-imidazoline (5a), achieved at ERalpha an EC(50) value of 0.085 microM and at ERbeta an EC(50) = 0.40 microM. High antagonistic properties only possessed the C2 ethyl substituted compounds 2a and 4a. (4R,5S)/(4S,5R)-2-Ethyl-4-(4-hydroxyphenyl)-5-(4-(2-piperidin-1-ylethoxy)phenyl)-2-imidazoline (2a) reduced the effect of estradiol at ERalpha strongly with IC(50) = 0.038 microM, while its antagonistic properties at ERbeta were distinctly lower (IC(50) = 9.00 microM), probably due to the partial agonistic effects (EC(50) = 0.50 microM).