and purine systems with an attached pharmacophoric nitrate ester group. The indole and quinoline derivatives 4 and 5 possess structural features of the nitrate containing K(ATP) channel openers. Purine analogues 11 and 12, substituted at the position 6 by a piperidine moiety and at position 9 by an alkylnitrate, could combine the effects of the nitrate containing K(ATP) channel openers and those of adenosine