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Updated: Jan 28, 2026

Formation of Ordered Biomolecular Structures by the Self-assembly of Short Peptides
Published on: November 21, 2013
Ketamine esters and amides as short-acting anaesthetics: Structure-activity relationships for the side-chain
Ivaylo V Dimitrov1, Martyn G Harvey2, Logan J Voss2
1Auckland Cancer Society Research Centre, School of Medical Sciences, University of Auckland, New Zealand.
Abstract:
N-Aliphatic ester analogues of the non-opioid ketamine (1) retain effective anaesthetic/analgesic properties while minimising ketamine's psychomimetic side-effects. We show that the anaesthetic/analgesic properties of these ester analogues depend critically on the length (from 2 to 4 carbons), polarity and steric cross-section of the aliphatic linker chain. More stable amide and ethylsulfone analogues generally showed weaker anaesthetic/analgesic activity. There was no correlation between the anaesthetic/analgesic properties of the compounds and their binding affinities for the N-methyl-d-aspartate (NMDA) receptor.
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