Comparative Quantitative Structureminus signActivity Relationship Studies on Anti-HIV Drugs

Quantitative structure–activity relationship studies on HEPTs by supervised stochastic resonance

Quantitative structure-activity relationship studies (QSAR) on HEPTs were performed by using a new approach--supervised stochastic resonance (SSR) in this paper. Errors in physicochemical properties have great effects on variable selection and the predictive capability of QSAR models but errors-in-variables were seldom discussed in QSAR. In this paper, based on the theory of stochastic resonance (SR), SSR was proposed and employed to the problem. In SSR, errors and abundant variables were regarded as noise and the relevant descriptors as signals. In the nonlinear systems involved in the SR, the signal and the noise interact harmonically and the signal was consequently enhanced. Therefore, the correlation between the relevant variables and a specified activity of a series molecule was improved by SSR. It is demonstrated that the obtained QSAR models for HEPT analogues by SSR were comparable to those by published methods in their stability and predictivity. SSR is an efficient and promising approach to QSAR studies.

A QSAR study on influenza neuraminidase inhibitors

Influenza is a major respiratory infection associated with significant morbidity in the general population and mortality in elderly and high-risk patients. It is an RNA virus that contains two major surface glycoproteins, neuraminidase and hemagglutinin. These proteins are essential for infection. Neuraminidase has been found to be a potential target to control influenza virus. In this paper, we have developed 17 quantitative structure-activity relationships (QSAR) for different sets of compounds to understand chemical-biological interactions governing their activities toward influenza neuraminidase.

Probabilistic Neural Network Model for the In Silico Evaluation of Anti-HIV Activity and Mechanism of Action

A theoretical model has been developed that discriminates between active and nonactive drugs against HIV-1 with four different mechanisms of action for the active drugs. The model was built up using a probabilistic neural network (PNN) algorithm and a database of 2720 compounds. The model showed an overall accuracy of 97.34% in the training series, 85.12% in the selection series, and 84.78% in an external prediction series. The model not only correctly classified a very heterogeneous series of organic compounds but also discriminated between very similar active/nonactive chemicals that belong to the same family of compounds. More specifically, the model recognized 96.02% of nonactive compounds, 94.24% of active compounds that inhibited reverse transcriptase, 97.24% of protease inhibitors, 97.14% of virus uncoating inhibitors, and 90.32% of integrase inhibitors. The results indicate that this approach may represent a powerful tool for modeling large databases in QSAR with applications in medicinal chemistry.

CoMFA 3D-QSAR analysis of HIV-1 RT nonnucleoside inhibitors, TIBO derivatives based on docking conformation and alignment

HIV-1 RT is one of the key enzymes in the duplication of HIV-1. Inhibitors of HIV-1 RT are classified as nonnucleoside RT inhibitors (NNRTIs) and nucleoside analogues. NNRTIs bind in a region not associated with the active site of the enzyme. Within the NNRTI category, there is a set of inhibitors commonly referred to as TIBO inhibitors. Fifty TIBO inhibitors were used in the work to build 3-D QSAR models. The two known crystal structures of complexes are used to investigate and validate the docking protocol. The results show that the docking simulations reproduce the crystal complexes very well with RMSDs of approximately 1 A and approximately 0.6 A for 1REV and 1COU, respectively. The alignment of molecules and "active" conformation selection are the key to a successful 3D-QSAR model by CoMFA. The flexible docking (Autodock3) was used on determination of "active" conformation and molecular alignment, and CoMFA and CoMSIA were used to develop 3D-QSAR models of 50 TIBOs in the work. The 3D-QSAR models demonstrate a good ability to predict the activity of studied compounds (r2 = 0.972, 0.944, q2 = 0.704, 0.776). It is shown that the steric and electrostatic properties predicted by CoMFA contours can be related to the binding structure of the complex. The results demonstrate that the combination of ligand-based and receptor-based modeling is a powerful approach to build 3D-QSAR models.

Hydrophobicity in the design of P2/P2′ tetrahydropyrimidinone HIV protease inhibitors

As part of an ongoing effort in understanding the role of hydrophobicity in the design of nonpeptidic HIV protease inhibitors, the QSAR study on P2/P2' tetrahydropyrimidinone is presented in this report. Our results suggest that the balance of hydrophobicity and a volume- dependent polarizability term plays a key role in the inhibition of the viral protease by these inhibitors. The size of the substituent of ligands at particular positions that induce steric fit is crucial. The role of hydrophobicity in the design of tetrahydropyrimidinone is discussed. It has been found that a sufficient spread in the data is required to observe the optimum value of ClogP for these inhibitors.

From SAR to comparative QSAR: role of hydrophobicity in the design of 4-hydroxy-5,6-dihydropyran-2-ones HIV-1 protease inhibitors

Role of hydrophobicity in the design of 4-hydroxy-5,6-dihydropyran-2-ones-a new class of emerging HIV-1 protease inhibitors (HIV-PI) was investigated by using comparative QSAR. These studies show that most of the data points in the individual dataset studied fall either on positive or negative side of the optimum value of ClogP. This is why, we observe either a positive or negative ClogP term in the QSAR. To observe the optimum value of ClogP for these inhibitors, a sufficient spread in the data is required. It is hoped that the results of this study would help in optimizing substituents for better binding at enzyme pockets and guide in the design of more effective HIV-PI of this class.

Selective small molecules blocking HIV-1 Tat and coactivator PCAF association

Development of drug resistance from mutations in the targeted viral proteins leads to continuation of viral production by chronically infected cells, contributing to HIV-mediated immune dysfunction. Targeting a host cell protein essential for viral reproduction, rather than a viral protein, may minimize the viral drug resistance problem as observed with HIV protease inhibitors. We report here the development of a novel class of N1-aryl-propane-1,3-diamine compounds using a structure-based approach that selectively inhibit the activity of the bromodomain of the human transcriptional co-activator PCAF, of which association with the HIV trans-activator Tat is essential for transcription and replication of the integrated HIV provirus.

Thiosugars. XII. Synthesis of new 3'-O-substituted 2',5'-anhydro-2'-thio-alpha-D-pentofuranosyl nucleoside analogues

Methyl 2,5-anhydro-3-O-(2-methoxyethyl)-2-thio-beta-D-arabinofuranoside and methyl 2,5-anhydro-3-O-(2-fluorobenzyl)-2-thio-alpha-D-lyxofuranoside were transformed into the corresponding uridine, thymidine, cytidine and adenosine analogues, which exclusively exhibited the alpha-configuration irrespective of the anomeric configuration of the donor. The structure, configuration, and conformation of the products was elucidated by X-ray structure analyses. The nucleoside analogues were tested for antiviral activities.

Quantitative Structure–activity Relationship Analysis of Pyridinone HIV-1 Reverse Transcriptase Inhibitors using the k Nearest Neighbor Method and QSAR-based Database Mining

We have developed quantitative structure-activity relationship (QSAR) models for 44 non-nucleoside HIV-1 reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NNRTIs) of the pyridinone derivative type. The k nearest neighbor (kNN) variable selection approach was used. This method utilizes multiple descriptors such as molecular connectivity indices, which are derived from two-dimensional molecular topology. The modeling process entailed extensive validation including the randomization of the target property (Y-randomization) test and the division of the dataset into multiple training and test sets to establish the external predictive power of the training set models. QSAR models with high internal and external accuracy were generated, with leave-one-out cross-validated R2 (q2) values ranging between 0.5 and 0.8 for the training sets and R2 values exceeding 0.6 for the test sets. The best models with the highest internal and external predictive power were used to search the National Cancer Institute database. Derivatives of the pyrazolo[3,4-d]pyrimidine and phenothiazine type were identified as promising novel NNRTIs leads. Several candidates were docked into the binding pocket of nevirapine with the AutoDock (version 3.0) software. Docking results suggested that these types of compounds could be binding in the NNRTI binding site in a similar mode to a known non-nucleoside inhibitor nevirapine.

In Silico Studies toward the Discovery of New Anti-HIV Nucleoside Compounds through the Use of TOPS-MODE and 2D/3D Connectivity Indices. 2. Purine Derivatives

The TOPological Substructural MOlecular DEsign (TOPS-MODE) approach has been used to predict the anti-HIV activity in MT-4 assays (Estrada et al., 2002) of a diverse range of purine-based nucleosides. A database of 206 nucleosides has been selected from the literature and a theoretical virtual screening model has been developed. The model is able of discriminating between compounds that have anti-HIV activity and those that do not, with a good classification level of 85% in the training and 82.8% in the cross-validation series. On the basis of the information generated by the model, the correct classification of practically 80% of compounds from an external prediction set has been achieved using the theoretical model. Furthermore, the contribution of a range of molecular fragments to the pharmacological action has been calculated and this could provide a powerful tool in the design of nucleoside analogues that show activity against the HIV. Finally, a QSAR model has been developed that allows quantitative data to be obtained regarding the pharmacological potency shown by this type of compound.

QSAR for anti-RNA-virus activity, synthesis, and assay of anti-RSV carbonucleosides given a unified representation of spectral moments, quadratic, and topologic indices

The unified representation of spectral moments, classic topologic indices, quadratic indices, and stochastic molecular descriptors show that all these molecular descriptors lie within the same family. Consequently, the same prior probability for a successful quantitative-structure-activity-relationship (QSAR) may be expected irrespective of which indices are selected. Herein, we used stochastic spectral moments as molecular descriptors to seek a QSAR using a database of 221 bioactive compounds previously tested against diverse RNA-viruses and 402 nonactive ones. The QSAR model thus obtained correctly classifies 90.9% of compounds in training. The model also correctly classifies a total of 87.9% of 207 compounds on additional external predicting series, 73 of them having anti-RNA-virus activity and 134 nonactive ones. In addition, all compounds were regrouped into five different subsets for leave-group-out studies: (1) anti-influenza, (2) anti-picornavirus, (3) anti-paramyxovirus, (4) anti-RSV/anti-influenza, and (5) broad range anti-RNA-virus activity. The model has retained overall accuracies of about 90% on these studies validating model robustness. Finally, we exemplify the practical use of the model with the discovery of compounds 124 and 128. These compounds presented MIC50 values=3.2 and 8 microg/mL against respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) respectively. Both compounds also have low cytotoxicity expressed by their Minimal Cytotoxic Concentrations >400 microg/mL for HeLa cells. The present approach represents an effort toward a formalization and application of molecular indices in bioorganic and medicinal chemistry.

Synthesis of C-5-thioglycopyranosides and their sulfonium derivatives from 1-C-(2′-oxoalkyl)-5-S-acetylglycofuranosides

1-C-(2'-oxoalkyl)-5-S-acetylglycofuranosides of L-arabinose, D-ribose, and D-xylose were converted to 1-C-(2'-oxoalkyl)-5-thioglycopyranosides by base treatment. The transformation was achieved through beta-elimination to an acyclic alpha,beta-conjugated aldehyde (ketone or ester), followed by an intramolecular hetero-Michael addition by the 5-thiol group. The cycloaddition was highly stereoselective in favor of an equatorial 1-C-substitution. The resultant C-5-thioglycopyranosides were further converted to the sulfonium salts by treatment with cyclic sulfate and methyl iodide. Two sulfonium isomers were obtained due to the presence of both S-axial and S-equatorial substitutions. We observed that the chemical shifts of both C-1 and C-5 in the S-axial substituted sulfonium sugars are always shifted up-field (5-10 ppm) in comparison to those in the S-equatorial substitutions (deltaC 49-53 ppm vs 42-45 ppm at C-1 and 37-42 ppm vs 32-35 ppm at C-5), which provides an easy way for determination of the stereochemistry.

Prevention of HIV-1 infection by platinum triazines

To identify and explore the activity of compounds which may act as anti-HIV virucidal agents, we have investigated platinum compounds, especially those containing N-donor aromatic ligands. After screening over 70 related agents, including N-donor aromatic ligands and metal precursors, we have identified a novel class of platinum(II) complexes with 2-pyridyl-1,2,4-triazine derivatives and Pt(II) formulations with these derivatives (ptt compounds) as having the highest anti-HIV activity. The maximum activity was observed when the agents were added immediately post-infection. The ptt agents did not block cell fusion activity of HIV-1 Env proteins in cells bearing CD4X4 or CD4R5 receptors, indicating a lack of interaction with the Env protein. The ptt compounds exhibit low toxicity for human epithelial cells, and are thus promising candidates for use as microbicides or antiviral agents against HIV.

The dimerization domain of the HIV-1 capsid protein binds a capsid protein-derived peptide: a biophysical characterization

The type 1 HIV presents a conical capsid formed by approximately 1500 units of the capsid protein, CA. Homodimerization of CA via its C-terminal domain, CA-C, constitutes a key step in virion assembly. CA-C dimerization is largely mediated by reciprocal interactions between residues of its second alpha-helix. Here, we show that an N-terminal-acetylated and C-terminal-amidated peptide, CAC1, comprising the sequence of the CA-C dimerization helix plus three flanking residues at each side, is able to form a complex with the entire CA-C domain. Thermal denaturation measurements followed by circular dichroism (CD), NMR, and size-exclusion chromatography provided evidence of the interaction between CAC1 and CA-C. The apparent dissociation constant of the heterocomplex formed by CA-C and CAC1 was determined by several biophysical techniques, namely, fluorescence (using an anthraniloyl-labeled peptide), affinity chromatography, and isothermal titration calorimetry. The three techniques yielded similar values for the apparent dissociation constant, in the order of 50 microM. This apparent dissociation constant was only five times higher than was the dissociation constant of both CA-C and the intact capsid protein homodimers (10 microM).

Flexible docking of pyridinone derivatives into the non-nucleoside inhibitor binding site of HIV-1 reverse transcriptase

Potent non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NNRTIs) of the pyridinone derivative type were docked into nine NNRTIs binding pockets of HIV-1 reverse transcriptase (RT) structures. The docking results indicate that pyridinone analogues adopt a butterfly conformation and share the same binding mode as the crystal inhibitors in the pocket geometries of nevirapine, 1051U91, 9-Cl-TIBO, Cl-alpha-APA, efavirenz, UC-781, and S-1153. The results are in agreement with the data concerning mutational and structure-activity relationships available for pyridinone analogues and aid in the understanding, at the molecular level, of the biological response of published hybrid pyridinone molecules. Strategies to design further pyridinone derivatives active against RT containing mutations are discussed.

Protein-ligand binding free energy estimation using molecular mechanics and continuum electrostatics. Application to HIV-1 protease inhibitors

A method is proposed for the estimation of absolute binding free energy of interaction between proteins and ligands. Conformational sampling of the protein-ligand complex is performed by molecular dynamics (MD) in vacuo and the solvent effect is calculated a posteriori by solving the Poisson or the Poisson-Boltzmann equation for selected frames of the trajectory. The binding free energy is written as a linear combination of the buried surface upon complexation, SASbur, the electrostatic interaction energy between the ligand and the protein, Eelec, and the difference of the solvation free energies of the complex and the isolated ligand and protein, deltaGsolv. The method uses the buried surface upon complexation to account for the non-polar contribution to the binding free energy because it is less sensitive to the details of the structure than the van der Waals interaction energy. The parameters of the method are developed for a training set of 16 HIV-1 protease-inhibitor complexes of known 3D structure. A correlation coefficient of 0.91 was obtained with an unsigned mean error of 0.8 kcal/mol. When applied to a set of 25 HIV-1 protease-inhibitor complexes of unknown 3D structures, the method provides a satisfactory correlation between the calculated binding free energy and the experimental pIC5o without reparametrization.

Role of hydroxyl group and R/S configuration of isostere in binding properties of HIV-1 protease inhibitors

The crystal structure of the complex between human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) protease and a peptidomimetic inhibitor of ethyleneamine type has been refined to R factor of 0.178 with diffraction limit 2.5 A. The peptidomimetic inhibitor Boc-Phe-Psi[CH2CH2NH]-Phe-Glu-Phe-NH2 (denoted here as OE) contains the ethyleneamine replacement of the scissile peptide bond. The inhibitor lacks the hydroxyl group which is believed to mimic tetrahedral transition state of proteolytic reaction and thus is suspected to be necessary for good properties of peptidomimetic HIV-1 protease inhibitors. Despite the missing hydroxyl group the inhibition constant of OE is 1.53 nm and it remains in the nanomolar range also towards several available mutants of HIV-1 protease. The inhibitor was found in the active site of protease in an extended conformation with a unique hydrogen bond pattern different from hydroxyethylene and hydroxyethylamine inhibitors. The isostere nitrogen forms a hydrogen bond to one catalytic aspartate only. The other aspartate forms two weak hydrogen bridges to the ethylene group of the isostere. A comparison with other inhibitors of this series containing isostere hydroxyl group in R or S configuration shows different ways of accommodation of inhibitor in the active site. Special attention is devoted to intermolecular contacts between neighbouring dimers responsible for mutual protein adhesion and for a special conformation of Met46 and Phe53 side chains not expected for free protein in water solution.

A mechanistic study of 3-aminoindazole cyclic urea HIV-1 protease inhibitors using comparative QSAR

Comparative QSAR studies on P2/P2' and P1/P1' substituted symmetrical and nonsymmetrical 3-aminoindazole cyclic urea HIV-1 protease inhibitors were performed. The protease inhibitory activity of these compounds was found to decrease with larger and more hydrophobic molecules, whereas the antiviral potency and translation across the cell membrane increases with increase in hydrophobicity and size. These results provide mechanistic insight about the mode of interaction of these compounds with HIV-1 protease receptor and would help in further improving the biological activity.

Nucleosides. IX. Synthesis of purine N(3),5'-cyclonucleosides and N(3),5'-cyclo-2',3'-seconucleosides via Mitsunobu reaction as TIBO-like derivatives

The Mitsunobu reaction was applied to prepare, in one step, purine N(3),5'-cyclonucleosides 10a-d. A subsequent ring opening in the ribose moiety of the resultant N(3),5'-nucleosides by sodium periodate led to the corresponding N(3),5'-cyclo-2',3'-seconucleosides. These products consist of 5-, 6-, and 7-membered tricyclic system which is the basic skeleton of TIBO derivatives, known antiviral agents.

Anti-HIV activity of HEPT, TIBO, and cyclic urea derivatives: structure-property studies, focused combinatorial library generation, and hits selection using substructural molecular fragments method

Substructural molecular fragments (SMF) method [Solov'ev, V. P.; Varnek, A.; Wipff, G. J. Chem. Inf. Comput. Sci. 2000, 40, 847-858] was applied to assess anti-HIV activity for large data sets for three families of compounds: 1-[2-hydroxyethoxy)methyl]-6-(phenylthio)thymine (HEPT) derivatives, tetrahydroimidazobenzodiazepinone (TIBO) derivatives, and cyclic urea (CU) derivatives. The SMF method uses 49 types of topological descriptors (atom/bond sequences and "augmented atoms") which, being coupled with 3 linear and nonlinear fitting equations, allows the user to generate up to 147 structure-property models. For each family of compounds, the modeling was performed on several training sets followed by the validation calculations where three best fit models were applied. Calculated activities well reproduce available experimental data. On the basis of the "optimal" molecular fragments, the focused combinatorial library containing 252 virtual HEPT derivatives has been generated. Its filtering led to several hits potentially possessing anti-HIV activity.

Relative free energy of binding and binding mode calculations of HIV-1 RT inhibitors based on dock-MM-PB/GS

Tetrahydroimidazo-[4,5,l-jk][1,4]-benzodiazepin-2-(1H)-one (TIBO) derivatives are important nonnucleoside human immunodeficiency virus-1 reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NNRTI). Several TIBO derivatives have shown high potency to inhibit reverse transcriptase (RT) and one (Tivirapine) has entered into clinical trials. The free energy of binding (FEB) is a numerical way to express the binding affinity of a ligand to its receptor and has been applied in screening candidates in rational drug design. In this work, the FEB of 42 TIBOs in RT was studied. Relative FEB is expressed in the form of a linear combination of vdW, electrostatic, solvation, and nonpolar solvation energy terms. The predicted FEB activity of the TIBOs studied has a good correlation (r(2) = 0.8680, q(2) = 0.8298) with respect to the experimental activity (pIC(50)). Based on the data reported here, the Finite Difference Poisson Boltzmann with a Gaussian Smooth Dielectric Constant Function method (PB/GS) solvation energy term is very important in predicting the binding affinity of TIBOs in RT. In summary, the Dock-Molecular Mechanics (MM)-PB/GS method is a promising technique in predicting ligand/receptor binding affinity and it can be used to screen relatively large sets of molecules in a reasonable amount of computer time.

C-QSAR: a database of 18,000 QSARs and associated biological and physical data

The C-QSAR program is used to develop and search a database of over 18,000 equations that relate biological or physico-chemical properties of molecules to various molecular descriptors. The data used to derive the quantitative structure activity relationships (QSAR) are taken from various high quality journals. C-QSAR comprises two databases, one for structure-activity information biological systems (n = 9200) and the other for physical organic systems. Users can search the data in 20 different fields; for example by structure or substructure of the compounds involved, by the type of property correlated, by molecular properties, or by properties of the QSAR equation. Various ways in which information can be obtained is briefly discussed. Initially the database is often used for data mining, to search lead molecules, for substituent selection and "model mining" for lateral validation. The regression analysis is useful when the user wants to derive a new QSAR using his structures and activity data.

Comparative study of non nucleoside inhibitors with HIV-1 reverse transcriptase based on 3D-QSAR and docking

The intermolecular interaction between two types of non nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NNRTIs), HEPT and TIBO, and HIV reverse transcriptase receptor (HIVRT) was investigated. The result of docking study showed that two types of NNRTIs presented similar interaction mechanism with HIVRT. The most active compound of every type of inhibitors could form one hydrogen bond with the residue Lys101 and has hydrophobic interaction with residues Tyr181, Tyr188 and Tyr318, etc. Three 3D-QSAR models including two partial correlation models (one for each family of HEPT and TIBO) and a mixed model gathering two families were constructed. Comparative study of these models indicated that the mixed model offered the strongest prediction ability. For this model, the cross-validated q2 values were 0.720 and 0.675, non-cross-validated r2 values were 0.940 and 0.920 for CoMFA and CoMSIA, respectively. It has been validated by using a test set of 27 inhibitors. Compared with previously reported works, our model showed better prediction ability. It could help us to insight the interaction between NNRTIs and HIVRT, and to design new anti-HIV NNRTIs inhibitors.

An Efficient Route to Pyrimidine Nucleoside Analogues by [4 + 2] Cycloaddition Reaction

We report here an efficient synthesis for pyrimidine nucleoside analogues by [4 + 2] cycloaddition reaction. These compounds were obtained by convergent chemistry from glycosyl isothiocyanates 3a-f (pyranoses, furanoses, and dissaccharides) and diazadienium salt 5. In fact, diazapentadienium iodide 5 prepared from vinylthioamide 4 is an efficient intermediate in heterocyclic synthesis and reacts with isothiocyanates 3a-f affording beta-D-uracil analogues 7a-f in good yields and with total regiocontrol. All compounds were fully characterized by IR, HRMS, and 13C and 1H NMR (COSY and HMQC).

Neural networks: Accurate nonlinear QSAR model for HEPT derivatives

A nonlinear quantitative structure-anti-HIV-1-activity relationship (QSAR) study was investigated in a series of 1-[2-hydroxyethoxy-methyl]-6-(phenylthio) thymine] (HEPT) derivatives acting as nonnucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NNRTIs). This QSAR study has been undertaken by a three-layered neural network (NN) using molecular descriptors known to be responsible for the anti-HIV-1 activity. The usefulness of the model and the nonlinearity of the relationship between molecular descriptors and anti-HIV-1 activity have been clearly demonstrated. The obtained model outperforms those given in the literature in both the fitting and predictive stages. NN analysis yielded predicted activities in excellent agreement with the experimentally obtained values (R(2) = 0.977, predictive r(2) = 0.862). The effect of each molecular feature on the anti-HIV-1 activity variation has been clearly elucidated.

The Ring Transformation of 3-Methyl-5-nitropyrimidin-4(3H)-one

3-Methyl-5-nitropyrimidin-4(3H)-one readily reacts with carbonyl compounds to produce three kinds of ring transformations. The nitropyrimidinone behaves as the synthetic equivalent of activated diformylamine affording 3,5-difunctionalized 4-pyridones, 4,5-disubstituted pyrimidines and functionalized 4-aminopyridines. It also behaves like α-nitro-formylacetic acid to give 5,6-disubstituted 3-nitro-2-pyridones.

A priori molecular descriptors in QSAR: a case of HIV-1 protease inhibitors. II. Molecular graphics and modeling

Molecular graphics and modeling methods illustrated the chemical background of the a priori approach from part I, and visualized steric and electronic enzyme-inhibitor relationships at qualitative and quantitative level for 34 and its derivatives. The enzyme-inhibitor electron density overlap occurs at 1.5-5.5A cut-off distance, beyond van der Waals radii. Derivatives of 34 exhibit linear relationships between biological activity, molecular size and number of intermolecular interactions.

Design, synthesis, and biological evaluation of monopyrrolinone-based HIV-1 protease inhibitors

The design, synthesis, and biological evaluation of a series of HIV-1 protease inhibitors [(-)-6, (-)-7, (-)-23, (+)-24] based upon the 3,5,5-trisubstituted pyrrolin-4-one scaffold is described. Use of a monopyrrolinone scaffold leads to inhibitors with improved cellular transport properties relative to the earlier inhibitors based on bispyrrolinones and their peptide counterparts. The most potent inhibitor (-)-7 displayed 13% oral bioavailability in dogs. X-ray structure analysis of the monopyrrolinone compounds cocrystallized with the wild-type HIV-1 protease provided valuable information on the interactions between the inhibitors and the HIV-1 enzyme. In each case, the inhibitors assumed similar orientations for the P2'-P1 substituents, along with an unexpected hydrogen bond of the pyrrolinone NH with Asp225. Interactions with the S2 pocket, however, were not optimal, as illustrated by the inclusion of a water molecule in two of the three inhibitor-enzyme complexes. Efforts to increase affinity by displacing the water molecule with second and third generation inhibitors did not prove successful. Lack of success with this venture is a testament to the difficulty of accurately predicting the many variables that influence and build binding affinity. Comparison of the inhibitor positions in three complexes with that of Indinavir revealed displacements of the protease backbones in the enzyme flap region, accompanied by variations in hydrogen bonding to accommodate the monopyrrolinone ring. The binding orientation of the pyrrolinone-based inhibitors may explain their sustained efficacy against mutant strains of the HIV-1 protease enzyme as compared to Indinavir.

Synthesis of seven-membered ring diazepin-2-ones via palladium-catalyzed highly regioselective cyclization of 2-vinylpyrrolidines with aryl isocyanates

The first palladium-catalyzed ring-expansion reaction of 2-vinylpyrrolidines with aryl isocyanates to form seven-membered ring heterocycles is described. This regioselective reaction requires 5 mol % of Pd(2)(dba)(3).CHCl(3) and 10 mol % of dppp at 40-60 degrees C in THF and results in the formation of 1,3-diazepin-2-ones in good isolated yields. When Pd(OAc)(2) and PPh(3) were utilized in the reaction, an intramolecular hydrogen migration occurs resulting in the formation of conjugated diene derivatives of urea.

An ethylenamine inhibitor binds tightly to both wild type and mutant HIV-1 proteases. Structure and energy study

An X-ray structure (resolution 2.2 A) of mutant HIV-1 protease (A71V, V82T, I84V) complexed with a newly developed peptidomimetic inhibitor with an ethylenamine isostere Boc-Phe-Psi[CH(2)CH(2)NH]-Phe-Glu-Phe-NH(2), denoted as OE, is described and compared with the complex of wild-type HIV-1 protease with the same inhibitor (resolution 2.5 A). OE shows tight binding to the wild type (K(i) = 1.5 nM) as well as mutant (K(i) = 4.1 nM) protease. The hydrogen bonds formed, in the case of hydroxyethylamine inhibitors, by a hydroxyl group are, in the case of OE inhibitors, replaced by a bifurcated hydrogen bond from the isosteric NH group to both catalytic aspartates Asp 25 and Asp 125. The binding modes of OE inhibitor to the wild type and mutant protease are similar. However, in the mutant protease, weaker van der Waals interactions of the mutated residues Val 84 and Val 184 with OE were found. This lack of interaction energy is compensated by a new aromatic hydrogen bond between the phenyl ring of the inhibitor in position P1 and the mutated residue Thr 182. Energy analysis based on molecular mechanics has been performed to distinguish between the static and dynamic backgrounds of disorder observed at the mutation sites Thr 82, Val 84, Thr 182, and Val 184.

Segmental analysis of molecular surface electrostatic potentials: application to enzyme inhibition

We have recently shown that the anti-HIV activities of reverse transcriptase inhibitors can be related quantitatively to properties of the electrostatic potentials on their molecular surfaces. We now introduce the technique of using only segments of the drug molecules in developing such expressions. If an improved correlation is obtained for a given family of compounds, it would suggest that the segment being used plays a key role in the interaction. We demonstrate the procedure for three groups of drugs, two acting on reverse transcriptase and one on HIV protease. Segmental analysis is found to be definitely beneficial in one case, less markedly so in another, and to have a negative effect in the third. The last result indicates that major portions of the molecular surfaces are involved in the interactions and that the entire molecules need to be considered, in contrast to the first two examples, in which certain segments appear to be of primary importance. This initial exploratory study shows that segmental analysis can provide insight into the nature of the process being investigated, as well as possibly enhancing the predictive capability.

A priori molecular descriptors in QSAR: a case of HIV-1 protease inhibitors. I. The chemometric approach

A quantitative structure-activity relationship (QSAR) study on 48 peptidic HIV-1 protease inhibitors was performed. Fourteen a priori molecular descriptors were used to build QSAR models. Hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA), principal component analysis (PCA) and partial least squares (PLS) regression were employed. PLS models with 32/16 (model I) and 48/0 (model II) molecules in the training/external validation set were constructed. The a priori molecular descriptors were related to two energetic variables using PLS. HCA and PCA on data from model II classified the inhibitors as slightly, moderately and highly active; three principal components, the chemical nature of which has been highlighted, are enough to describe the enzyme-inhibitor binding. Model I (r(2)=0.91, q(2)=0.84) is comparable to literature models obtained by various QSAR softwares, which justified the use of a priori descriptors.

Design and analysis of a combinatorial library of HEPT analogues: comparison of selection methodologies and inspection of the actually covered chemical space

A large virtual library of 125 396 HEPT analogues, built by combining all fragments present in the published 180-compound HEPT family, has been studied in terms of diversity criteria and the goodness of the 11 available standard diversity selection methods analyzed. All the algorithms under study, except Cell-based Density, have rank above a random selection of compounds, with Optimum and Standard Deviation based Binning and Cell-based Fraction algorithms being the best choices. Furthermore, analysis of the actually tested compounds has been performed to compare the traditional drug discovery methodology versus a rational selection of combinatorial libraries approach.

Six-membered cyclic ureas as HIV-1 protease inhibitors: a QSAR study based on CODESSA PRO approach. Quantitative structure-activity relationships

Quantitative structure-activity relationships (QSAR) for HIV-1 protease inhibitory activity of substituted tetrahydropyrimidinones have been produced using CODESSA PRO methodology and software. The best four-parameter equation (R(2)(cv)=0.847) allowed us to reveal two main structural factors which are strongly correlated with the title activity: molecular hydrophobicity and ability to form hydrogen bonds with the target enzyme.