Synthesis and SAR study of diphenylbutylpiperidines as cell autophagy inducers

A novel series of diphenylbutylpiperidines as autophagy inducers was described and extensive SAR studies resulted in derivatives (15d-e, 15i-j) with 10-fold greater activity than the lead compounds 1 and 2. Meanwhile, a new synthetic route to diphenylbutyl bromide (6) from bromobenzene and γ-butyrolactone was also reported here.