α1-Adrenoceptor antagonists. 5. Pyridazinone-arylpiperazines. Probing the influence on affinity and selectivity of both ortho-Alkoxy groups at the arylpiperazine moiety and cyclic substituents at the pyridazinone nucleus

Our previous work on pyridazinone–arylpiperazine derivatives suggested some structural features that a compound should have to show high affinity and good selectivity for α1 adrenoceptors (AR) with respect to α2-AR. Accordingly, two classes of new alkoxyphenylpiperazinylheptylpyridazinones were designed and synthesized to evaluate the effect of the alkoxy substituent on affinity and selectivity. As expected, affinity increased with larger alkoxy groups. Affinity values are all comparable with that of the reference compound (prazosin), with the exception of compound 1c found 4.5-fold more active than prazosin.