A novel series of uracil-bearing DAPYs derivatives were designed and synthesized via structure-based molecular hybridization to discover compounds with improved anti-resistance profiles. Anti-HIV activity of the designed compounds was tested in MT-4 cell cultures. The most promising compound 16d showed excellent activity with EC50 value of 5.6 nM against wide-type HIV-1 and low cytotoxicity (SI > 50000). Activity against the clinic prevalent mutant strains was also tested, suggesting that 16d was sensitive to E138K (EC50 = 34.2 nM). Primary drug-like properties, such as water solubility and logP, were evaluated by experiment or calculation, which indicated that introducing an uracil can improve solubility. The molecular modeling accompanied with the preliminary SAR correlations paved the way for the next round of rational design of potent anti-HIV agents.
Keywords: DAPYs; Drug design; Molecular hybridization; NNRTIs; Physicochemical properties; Uracil.
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