Discovery of novel diarylpyrimidines as potent HIV NNRTIs via a structure-guided core-refining approach

Guided by crystal structures of HIV-1 RT/DAPY complex and molecular modeling studies, a series of novel DAPY derivatives were rationally designed, synthesized and evaluated for their anti-HIV activities. Among them, 16 compounds significantly inhibited HIV-1 IIIB replication with EC50 values lower than 66 nM. Particularly, compound 7a was the most potent inhibitor against HIV-1 wild-type and double RT mutant HIV-1 strain K103N/Y181C, with an EC50 value of 2.5 nM (SI = 13,740) and 0.33 mu M (SI = 107), respectively. Unexpectedly, compound 8c was found to show moderate anti-HIV-2 potency (EC50 = 5.57 mu M). Preliminary structure-activity relationships (SARs) and molecular modeling of these new analogues were also discussed in detail. (C) 2014 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.