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A novel series of acetamide-substituted derivatives and two prodrugs of doravirine were designed and synthesized as potent HIV-1 NNRTIs by employing the structure-based drug design strategy. In MT-4 cell-based assays using the MTT method, it was found that most of the new compounds exhibited moderate to excellent inhibitory potency against the wild-type (WT) HIV-1 strain with a minimum EC50 value of 54.8 nM. Among them, the two most potent compounds 8i (EC50 = 59.5 nM) and 8k (EC50 = 54.8 nM) displayed robust activity against WT HIV-1 with double-digit nanomolar EC50 values, being superior to lamivudine (3TC, EC50 = 12.8 μM) and comparable to doravirine (EC50 = 13 nM). Besides, 8i and 8k shown moderate activity against the double RT mutant (K103N + Y181C) HIV-1 RES056 strain. The HIV-1 RT inhibition assay further validated the binding target. Molecular simulation of the representative compounds was employed to provide insight on their structure-activity relationships (SARs) and direct future design efforts. Finally, the aqueous solubility and chemical stability of the prodrugs 9 and 10 were investigated in detail.

Crystallographic overlap studies and pharmacophoric analysis indicated that diarylpyrimidine (DAPY)-based HIV-1 NNRTIs showed a similar binding mode and pharmacophoric features as indolylarylsulfones (IASs), another class of potent NNRTIs. Thus, a novel series of DAPY-IAS hybrid derivatives were identified as newer NNRTIs using structure-based molecular hybridization. Some target compounds exhibited moderate activities against HIV-1 IIIB strain, among which the two most potent inhibitors possessed EC50 values of 1.48μM and 1.61μM, respectively. They were much potent than the reference drug ddI (EC50=76.0μM) and comparable to 3TC (EC50=2.54μM). Compound 7a also exhibited the favorable selectivity index (SI=80). Preliminary structure-activity relationships (SARs), structure-cytotoxicity relationships, molecular modeling studies, and in silico calculation of physicochemical properties of these new inhibitors were also discussed.

By means of structure-based bioisosterism approach, a series of novel purinylthioacetanilide derivatives were designed, synthesized and evaluated as potent HIV-1 non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NNRTIs). Some of the tested compounds were found to be active against wild-type (WT) HIV-1(IIIB) with EC 50 in the range of 0.78–4.46 μM. Among them, LAD-8 displayed the most potent anti-HIV activity (EC 50 = 0.78 μM, SI = 24). In addition, LBD-6 showed moderate activity against L100I mutant (EC 50 = 5.64 μM) and double mutant strain RES056 (EC 50 = 22.24 μM). Preliminary structure–activity relationships (SARs) were discussed in detail. Molecular modeling study was used to predict the optimal conformation in the NNRTI binding site, which may play a guiding role in further rational optimization.

In order to identify novel nonnucleoside inhibitors of HIV-1 reverse transcriptase two series of amide-containing uracil derivatives were designed as hybrids of two scaffolds of previously reported inhibitors. Subsequent biological evaluation confirmed acetamide uracil derivatives 15a–k as selective micromolar NNRTIs with a first generation-like resistance profile. Molecular modeling of the most active compounds 15c and 15i was employed to provide insight on their inhibitory properties and direct future design efforts.

A series of new DAPY-DPEs hybrids, combined the important pharmacophores of DAPYs and DPEs, has been synthesized and biologically evaluated for their anti-HIV activities against wild-type HIV-1 strain IIIB, double RT mutant (K103N+Y181C) strain RES056 and HIV-2 strain ROD in MT-4 cell cultures. Many promising candidates with potent inhibitory activity (wild-type) within the EC50 range from 0.16 to 0.013 μM were obtained. In particular, 3c, 3p, 3r and 3s displayed low nM level EC50 values (35, 13, 50 and 17 nM, respectively) and high selectivity (9342, 25131, 2890 and 11338, respectively), which were much more potent than NVP (EC50=0.31 μM, SI=48), 3TC (EC50=2.24 μM, SI>39), DDI (EC50=23.20 μM, SI>9) and DLV (EC50=0.65 μM, SI>67), and comparable to AZT (EC50=0.0071 μM, SI>13144) and EFV (EC50=0.0062 μM, SI>1014). The HIV-1 reverse transcriptase inhibitory assay confirmed that these DAPY-DPEs hybrids targeted HIV-1 RT. Molecular simulation was performed to investigate the potential binding mode of the newly synthesized compounds. And reasonable explanation for the activity results was discussed with docking method.

A series of C6-rigid S-DABO analogs characterized by a substituted benzoyl group at C6 position of the pyrimidine ring has been synthesized and biological evaluation as NNRTIs against wild-type HIV-1 strain IIIB, double RT mutant (K103N + Y181C) strain RES056 as well as HIV-2 strain ROD in MT-4 cell cultures. Most of the compounds exhibited moderate antiviral activities. Among them, compound 7q displayed the highest anti-HIV-1 activity with an EC50 value of 0.26 μM and a selectivity index (SI) of 541. The preliminary structure–activity relationship (SAR) of these new S-DABOs was investigated, the target RT was confirmed and docking study was performed.

The 6-desfluoroquinolones which have been developed by our group represent a promising class of compounds for the treatment of HIV infection since they act on transcriptional regulation, a crucial step in the replication cycle that has not been clinically exploited, yet. Focussing attention on the N-1 and C-6 positions, a novel series of quinolones has been synthesized. New SAR insights have been obtained, in particular, the hydroxyl group emerged as a suitable C-6 substituent when coupled with the appropriate arylpiperazine at the neighboring C-7 position.