Synthesis and pharmacological effects of bis-trialkylammonium alkanol carbonates.

The synthesis and pharmacological effects of a series of bis-trialkylammonium alkanol carbonates of the type I, are described. The compounds were tested in the cat for their effects on electrical excitability of striated muscle, respiration, and blood pressure, and in the frog rectus abdominis. While the ethyl derivative, (I-1), lowers blood pressure without affecting the muscle twitch, the propyl-(I-3) and, to a much higher extent, the butyl derivative, (I-6), depress neuromuscular transmission and also direct muscle excitability. Branching of the alkanol moiety (I-2), or replacement of the carbonate oxygen by sulfur (I-7), or insertion of ethyl for the methyl groups on the quaternary nitrogen (I-4 and I-5), weaken the effect. The block is similar to that caused by depolarizing agents.