Symmetric fluoro-substituted diol-based HIV protease inhibitors -: Ortho-fluorinated and meta-fluorinated P1/P1′-benzyloxy side groups significantly improve the antiviral activity and preserve binding efficacy

HIV-1 protease is a pivotal enzyme in the later stages of the viral life cycle which is responsible for the processing and maturation of the virus particle into an infectious virion. As such, HIV-1 protease has become an important target for the treatment of AIDS, and efficient drugs have been developed. However, negative side effects and fast emerging resistance to the current drugs have necessitated the development of novel chemical entities in order to exploit different pharmacokinetic properties as well as new interaction patterns. We have used X-ray crystallography to decipher the structure-activity relationship of fluoro-substitution as a strategy to improve the antiviral activity and the protease inhibition of C2-symmetric diol-based inhibitors. In total we present six protease-inhibitor complexes at 1.8-2.3 Angstrom resolution, which have been structurally characterized with respect to their antiviral and inhibitory activities, in order to evaluate the effects of different fluoro-substitutions. These C2-symmetric inhibitors comprise mono- and difluoro-substituted benzyloxy side groups in P1/P1' and indanoleamine side groups in P2/P2'. The ortho- and meta-fluorinated P1/P1'-benzyloxy side groups proved to have the most cytopathogenic effects compared with the nonsubstituted analog and related C2-symmetric diol-based inhibitors. The different fluoro-substitutions are well accommodated in the protease S1/S1' subsites, as observed by an increase in favorable Van der Waals contacts and surface area buried by the inhibitors. These data will be used in the development of potent inhibitors with different pharmacokinetic profiles towards resistant protease mutants.