Halogen substituents on the aromatic moiety of the tetracaine scaffold improve potency of cyclic nucleotide-gated channel block

A series of new tetracaine derivatives with substituents on the aromatic ring was prepared and evaluated for block of retinal rod cyclic nucleotide-gated (CNG) channels. Aromatic substitutions had little effect starting with the basic tetracaine scaffold, but electron-withdrawing substituents significantly improved the blocking potency of an octyl-tail derivative of tetracaine. In particular, halogen substitutions at either the 2- or 3-position on the ring resulted in compounds that were up to eight-fold more potent than the parent octyl-tail derivative and up to 50-fold more potent than tetracaine.