ELECTRONIC CONDITIONS FOR ANTICONVULSANT ACTIVITY OF DIPHENYLSUCCINIMIDES - CRYSTAL AND MOLECULAR-STRUCTURE OF 1,1-DIPHENYL-N-(2-PYRIDYL)-SUCCINIMIDE

The X-ray structure of the title compound was performed to serve as th e basis to find the ''right'' conformations among the minimum energy c onformations derived from molecular modeling. The crystals of C21H16N2 O2 are monoclinic, space group P2(1)/n (Z = 4); a = 9.038(2), b = 17.5 52(4), c = 11.111(2)Angstrom, beta = 91.36(3)degrees. The present stud y was performed on eight derivatives of diphenylsuccinimides, of which six were tested against the maximal electrical shock (MES). A theoret ical test, based on the sign of the difference between the minima of t he molecular electrostatic potential (MEP) at the carbonyl oxygens of the imide five-membered ring, designed for the purpose of an earlier s tudy of phenylsuccinimides, was applied. This test confirmed the inact ivity of the screened compounds and indicated that the remaining two d iphenylsuccinimides are also inactive.