Synthesis, antiretroviral and antioxidant evaluation of a series of new benzo[b]furan derivatives

The antiretroviral and anti-oxidant profile of a series of new C-2 and C-7 substituted benzo[b]furans was explored by employing well established antiviral and antioxidant protocols. The most potent antioxidant compound tested was analog 7, which bears an OH at C-7 and a benzoyl group at C-2. In the influenza A type H3N2 virus screens analog 8a was almost five-fold more active than its counterparts and equipotent to rimantadine and amantadine. In the influenza B screening all of the new compounds tested were at least ten-fold more active than the control drug amantadine. The anti-HIV screening, using acutely infected MT-4 cells, showed that compound 8f (n = 4), was fifteen-fold more active than its monomer congeners, 8a and 8c, d and almost five-fold more potent than monomer 8b and dimer 8f (n = 3).