Quarternary ammonium compounds

A compound of the following formula (I), or a solvate or pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof:

• 12
• wherein Y and E are independently selected from —CH2—R16 or a group represented by the following formula (II):
• 13
• wherein R, R1, R2, R3, R4, R5, R6 and R16 are independently selected from hydrogen, C1-C8 alkyl, C3-C8 alkoxyalkyl and C7-C12 aralkyl;
• m is an integer of from 1 to 8 and n is an integer of from 0 to 8;
• A is selected from C5-C12 alkyl, a C3-C13 carbocyclic ring, and ring systems selected from formulae (III), (IV), (V), (VI), (VII), (VIII), (IX) and (X):
• 14
• where R7, R8, R9, R10 R11 and R12 are independently selected from bromine, chlorine, fluorine, carboxy, hydrogen, hydroxy, hydroxymethyl, methanesulfonamido, nitro, sulfamyl, trifluoromethyl, C2-C7 alkanoyloxy, C1-C6 alkyl, C1-C6 alkoxy, C2-C7 alkoxycarbonyl, C1-C6 thioalkyl, aryl and N(R13,R14) where R13 and R14 are independently selected from hydrogen, acetyl, methanesulfonyl and C1-C6 alkyl, and Z is selected from CH, CH2, O, N and S, where Z may be directly bonded to X when Z is CH, or X may be a direct bond to Z when Z is N, or Z may be directly bonded to R15 when Z is N and X is not a direct bond to Z, R15 is selected from hydrogen, C1-C6 alkyl, C3-C8 cyclocalkyl, aryl and benzyl;
• and X is N—R6 except when Z in A is nitrogen and X is a direct bond to Z;
• An− is the acid addition salt of a pharmaceutically acceptable acid or the anion from a pharmaceutically acceptable salt, and isolated enantiomeric, diastereomeric and geometric isomers thereof, and mixtures thereof, with the proviso that Y and E cannot both be —CH2—R16 in the same compound, and when Y is represented by formula (II) where n is 0, m is 1, R2 and R3 are each hydrogen, X is N—H and A is represented by formula (III), then E is not —CH2—R16 or the same as Y.