We identified a novel class of aryl-substituted triazine compounds as potent non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NNRTIs) during a high-throughput screening campaign that evaluated more than 200000 compounds for antihuman immunodeficiency virus (HIV) activity using a cell-based full replication assay. Herein, we disclose the optimization of the antiviral activity in a cell-based assay system leading to the discovery of compound
27, which possessed excellent potency against wild-type HIV-1 (EC
50 = 0.2 nM) as well as viruses bearing Y181C and K103N resistance mutations in the reverse transcriptase gene. The X-ray crystal structure of compound
27 complexed with wild-type reverse transcriptase confirmed the mode of action of this novel class of NNRTIs. Introduction of a chloro functional group in the pyrazole moiety dramatically improved hERG and CYP inhibition profiles, yielding highly promising leads for further development.
Keywords:
HIV-1; reverse transcriptase; non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors; synthesis; X-ray crystal structure