Modification and biological evaluation of novel 4-hydroxy-pyrone derivatives as non-peptidic HIV-1 protease inhibitors

In this study, we have modified 4-hydroxy-pyran-2-ones, especially introduced heteroatoms (S or O) into the substituents, and detected their interactions with the binding pockets of HIV-1 protease (PR). The results indicated that the ethoxyl groups at C-2′ and C-5′ of the phenyl ring could enhance the affinities to the S 1 ′ and S 2 ′ pockets and improve the inhibitory activities. The most potent compound 10f with an IC50 of 3.5 nM in enzymatic assay also exhibited good antiviral activity at the cellular level; it exhibited an EC50 value of 2.9 μM in Simian immunodeficiency virus-infected CEM cells and suppressed the PR activity in 293T cells using western blot analysis.