1,5-Benzodiazepine inhibitors of HCV NS5B polymerase

Abstract Optimization through parallel synthesis of a novel series of hepatitis C virus (HCV) NS5B polymerase inhibitors led to the identification of ( R )-11-(4-benzyloxy-2-fluorophenyl)-6-hydroxy-3,3-dimethyl-10-(6-methylpyridine-2-carbonyl)-2,3,4,5,10,11-hexahydro-dibenzo[ b,e ][1,4]diazepin-1-one 11zc and ( R )-11-(4-benzyloxy-2-fluorophenyl)-6-hydroxy-3,3-dimethyl-10-(2,5-dimethyloxazol-4-carbonyl)-2,3,4,5,10,11-hexahydro-dibenzo[ b,e ][1,4]diazepin-1-one 11zk as potent (replicon EC 50  = 400 nM and 270 nM, respectively) and selective (CC 50  > 20 μM) inhibitors of HCV replication. These data warrant further lead-optimization efforts.