Design, synthesis, and antiviral activity evaluation of phenanthrene-based antofine derivatives.

On the basis of our previous structure–activity relationship (SAR) and antiviral mechanism studies, a series of phenanthrene-based antofine derivatives (1–12 and 18–50) were designed targeting tobacco mosaic virus (TMV) RNA and synthesized and systematically evaluated for their antiviral activity against TMV. The bioassay results showed that most of these compounds exhibited good to excellent in vivo anti-TMV activity, of which compounds 19 and 27 displayed higher activity than commercial Ribavirin, thus emerging as potential inhibitors of plant virus. The novel concise structure provides another new template for antiviral studies.