Here, we report the synthesis of pregn-5-ene and androst-5-ene dicarboxylicacid esters and explore the structure–activity relationship (SAR) for their modulation of N-methyl-d-aspartate receptors (NMDARs). All compounds were positive modulators of recombinant GluN1/GluN2B receptors (EC50 varying from 1.8 to 151.4 μM and Emax varying from 48% to 452%). Moreover, 10 compounds were found to be more potent