Aromatic P1 replacements for the highly potent HIV-1 protease inhibitor CRIXIVAN®

FMO-guided design of darunavir analogs as HIV-1 protease inhibitors

The prevalence of HIV-1 infection continues to pose a significant global public health issue, highlighting the need for antiretroviral drugs that target viral proteins to reduce viral replication. One such target is HIV-1 protease (PR), responsible for cleaving viral polyproteins, leading to the maturation of viral proteins. While darunavir (DRV) is a potent HIV-1 PR inhibitor, drug resistance can arise due to mutations in HIV-1 PR. To address this issue, we developed a novel approach using the fragment molecular orbital (FMO) method and structure-based drug design to create DRV analogs. Using combinatorial programming, we generated novel analogs freely accessible via an on-the-cloud mode implemented in Google Colab, Combined Analog generator Tool (CAT). The designed analogs underwent cascade screening through molecular docking with HIV-1 PR wild-type and major mutations at the active site. Molecular dynamics (MD) simulations confirmed the assess ligand binding and susceptibility of screened designed analogs. Our findings indicate that the three designed analogs guided by FMO, 19-0-14-3, 19-8-10-0, and 19-8-14-3, are superior to DRV and have the potential to serve as efficient PR inhibitors. These findings demonstrate the effectiveness of our approach and its potential to be used in further studies for developing new antiretroviral drugs.

Chemoselective Cleavage of Acylsulfonamides and Sulfonamides by Aluminum Halides

The chemoselective cleavage of C-N bonds of amides, sulfonamides, and acylsulfonamides by aluminum halides is described. AlCl₃ and AlI₃ display complementary reactivities toward N-alkyl and N-acyl moieties. N-Alkylacylsulfonamides, secondary N-(tert-butyl)sulfonamides, and tertiary N-(tert-butyl)amides undergo N-dealkylation upon treatments with AlI₃ generated in situ from aluminum and iodine in acetonitrile. In contrast, AlCl₃ preferentially cleaves N-acyl groups of tertiary and secondary sulfonamides.