Inhibition of Rhinovirus by Isatin Thiosemicarbazone Analogues

ISATIN 3-thiosemicarbazone is known to have antiviral activity against certain poxviruses1,2. The antiviral spectrum of 1-methylisatin 3-thiosemicarbazone, which reportedly extends to adenoviruses, may be rather broader but is still limited to several groups of DNA viruses2,3. It was therefore an unexpected finding that these compounds are also active against certain rhinoviruses. As a result, related heterocyclic compounds were tested of which several examples are shown here; two (D and E) were found to have activity against all rhinovirus strains used so far.