Adapromine

Electroencephalography (EEG) studies of animals suggest that adapromine and related adamantanes including amantadine, bromantane (1-amino-2-bromophenyladamantane), and memantine have psychostimulant-like and possibly antidepressant-like effects, and that these effects may be mediated via catecholaminergic processes. These psychostimulant effects differ qualitatively from those of conventional psychostimulants like amphetamine however, and the adamantane derivatives have been described contrarily as "adaptogens" and as "actoprotectors".

In 2004, it was discovered that amantadine and memantine bind to and act as agonists of the σ₁ receptor (K_i = 7.44 μM and 2.60 μM, respectively) and that activation of the σ₁ receptor is involved in the dopaminergic effects of amantadine at therapeutically relevant concentrations. These findings might also extend to the other adamantanes such as adapromine, rimantadine, and bromantane and could explain the psychostimulant-like effects of this family of compounds.

Synthesis

The first synthesis of adapromine was disclosed in patents by DuPont published in 1967.

1-Adamantanecarboxylic acid, as its acid chloride, is treated with a cadmium-modified Grignard reagent, which gives the ketone (6). Oxime formation with hydroxylamine, followed by reduction using lithium aluminium hydride yields adapromine.