wherein r is 4 39 nitro has been found to be useful as an anti inflammatory agent novel compounds wherein r is 2 39 nitro or 3 39 nitro form part of the invention however since they can be reduced to 2 39 amino or 3 39 amino compounds which are useful as anti inflammatory agents in addition to their anti inflammatory activity some of these compounds are also analgesic and antipyretic agents and some have mild immunosuppressant activity in order to determine and assess pharmacological activity testing in animals is carried out using various assays known to those skilled in the art thus the anti inflammatory activity of the compounds can be conveniently demonstrated using an assay designed to test the ability of these compounds to antagonize the local edema which is characteristic of the inflammatory response the rat foot edema test anti inflammatory activity may also be detected by other assays known to the art such as the cotton pellet granuloma test and the adjuvant arthritis test and the inhibition of the enzyme prostaglandin synthetase the edema test is performed on adult female rats one group of 10 rats serves as non medicated controls while another group of 10.