Substituent branching in phenethylamine-type hallucinogens: a comparison of 1-[2,5-dimethoxy-4-(2-butyl)phenyl]-2-aminopropane and 1-[2,5-dimethoxy-4-(2-methylpropyl)phenyl]-2-aminopropane

Two novel hallucinogen analogues related to 1-(2,5-dimethoxy-4-methylphenyl)-2-aminopropane (DOM, STP) were synthesized and evaluated in the two-lever drug discrimination paradigm by using 0.08 mg/kg of LSD as the training drug stimulus. The two compounds differ from each other only with respect to the point of branching in the 4-alkyl group. However, pharmacological evaluation revealed a clear difference in difference in potency and degree of LSD generalization for the two isomers. Branching adjacent to the ring, as in the 4-(2-butyl) analogue, may provide steric interference to the formation of the drug-receptor complex, while branching one methylene unit removed from the ring, as in the 4-(2-methylpropyl) analogue, poses less of a steric problem for the drug-receptor interaction. This is consistent with the idea that formation of a charge-transfer complex between the hallucinogen molecule and the receptor may be one of the features of this drug-receptor interaction.