Structure-based optimization and derivatization of 2-substituted quinolone-based non-nucleoside HCV NS5B inhibitors with submicromolar cellular replicon potency

Small molecule NS5B RdRp non-nucleoside inhibitors for the treatment of HCV infection: A medicinal chemistry perspective

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection has become a global health problem with enormous risks. Nonstructural protein 5B (NS5B) RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RdRp) is a component of HCV, which can promote the formation of the viral RNA replication complex and is also an essential part of the replication complex itself. It plays a vital role in the synthesis of the positive and negative strands of HCV RNA. Therefore, the development of small-molecule inhibitors targeting NS5B RdRp is of great value for treating HCV infection-related diseases. Compared with NS5B RdRp nucleoside inhibitors, non-nucleoside inhibitors have more flexible structures, simpler mechanisms of action, and more predictable efficacy and safety of drugs in humans. Technological advances over the past decade have led to remarkable achievements in developing NS5B RdRp inhibitors. This review will summarize the non-nucleoside inhibitors targeting NS5B RdRp developed in the past decade and describe their structure optimization process and structure-activity relationship.

Efficient Arylation of 2,7-Naphthyridin-1(2H)-one with Diaryliodonium Salts and Discovery of a New Selective MET/AXL Kinase Inhibitor

New 8-chloro-2-phenyl-2,7-naphthyridin-1(2H)-one building blocks bearing diverse substitutes on the 2-phenyl group were synthesized via an efficient diaryliodonium salt-based N-arylation strategy with the advantage of mild conditions, short reaction times, and high yields. A small combinatorial library of 8-amino substituted 2-phenyl-2,7-naphthyridin-1(2H)-one was further conveniently constructed based on the above chlorinated naphthyridinones and substituted aniline. Preliminary biochemical screening resulted in the discovery of the new 2,7-naphthyridone-based MET/AXL kinase inhibitors. More importantly, 17c (IC_50,MET of 13.8 nM) or 17e (IC_50,AXl of 17.2 nM) and 17i (IC_50,AXl of 31.8 nM) can efficient selectively inhibit MET or AXL kinase, respectively, while commercial cabozantinib showed no selectivity. The further exploration of the 8-substituted 2-phenyl-2,7-naphthyridin-1(2H)-one combinatorial library would significantly accelerate the discovery of more potent and selective inhibitors against diverse kinases.

Crystal structure, Hirshfeld surface analysis and DFT studies of ethyl 2-{4-[(2-eth-oxy-2-oxoeth-yl)(phen-yl)carbamo-yl]-2-oxo-1,2-di-hydro-quinolin-1-yl}acetate

The title com-pound, C24H24N2O6, consists of ethyl 2-(1,2,3,4-tetra-hydro-2-oxo-quinolin-1-yl)acetate and 4-[(2-eth-oxy-2-oxoeth-yl)(phen-yl)carbomoyl] units, where the oxo-quinoline unit is almost planar and the acetate substituent is nearly perpendicular to its mean plane. In the crystal, C-HOxqn⋯OEthx and C-HPh-yl⋯OCarbx (Oxqn = oxoquinolin, Ethx = eth-oxy, Phyl = phenyl and Carbx = carboxyl-ate) weak hydrogen bonds link the mol-ecules into a three-dimensional network sturucture. A π-π inter-action between the constituent rings of the oxo-quinoline unit, with a centroid-centroid distance of 3.675 (1) Å may further stabilize the structure. Both terminal ethyl groups are disordered over two sets of sites. The ratios of the refined occupanies are 0.821 (8):0.179 (8) and 0.651 (18):0.349 (18). The Hirshfeld surface analysis of the crystal structure indicates that the most important contributions for the crystal packing are from H⋯H (53.9%), H⋯O/O⋯H (28.5%) and H⋯C/C⋯H (11.8%) inter-actions. Weak inter-molecular hydrogen-bond inter-actions and van der Waals inter-actions are the dominant inter-actions in the crystal packing. Density functional theory (DFT) geometric optimized structures at the B3LYP/6-311G(d,p) level are com-pared with the experimentally determined mol-ecular structure in the solid state. The HOMO-LUMO mol-ecular orbital behaviour was elucidated to determine the energy gap.

Crystal structure, Hirshfeld surface analysis and inter-action energy and DFT studies of 2-chloro-ethyl 2-oxo-1-(prop-2-yn-1-yl)-1,2-di-hydro-quinoline-4-carboxyl-ate

The title compound, C15H12ClNO3, consists of a 1,2-di-hydro-quinoline-4-carb-oxyl-ate unit with 2-chloro-ethyl and propynyl substituents, where the quinoline moiety is almost planar and the propynyl substituent is nearly perpendicular to its mean plane. In the crystal, the mol-ecules form zigzag stacks along the a-axis direction through slightly offset π-stacking inter-actions between inversion-related quinoline moieties which are tied together by inter-molecular C-HPrpn-yl⋯OCarbx and C-HChlethy⋯OCarbx (Prpnyl = propynyl, Carbx = carboxyl-ate and Chlethy = chloro-eth-yl) hydrogen bonds. The Hirshfeld surface analysis of the crystal structure indicates that the most important contributions for the crystal packing are from H⋯H (29.9%), H⋯O/O⋯H (21.4%), H⋯C/C⋯ H (19.4%), H⋯Cl/Cl⋯H (16.3%) and C⋯C (8.6%) inter-actions. Hydrogen bonding and van der Waals inter-actions are the dominant inter-actions in the crystal packing. Computational chemistry indicates that in the crystal, the C-HPrpn-yl⋯OCarbx and C-HChlethy⋯OCarbx hydrogen bond energies are 67.1 and 61.7 kJ mol-1, respectively. Density functional theory (DFT) optimized structures at the B3LYP/ 6-311 G(d,p) level are compared with the experimentally determined mol-ecular structure in the solid state. The HOMO-LUMO behaviour was elucidated to determine the energy gap.

Design, Synthesis, Molecular Modeling Studies and Biological Evaluation of N'-Arylidene-6-(benzyloxy)-4-oxo-1,4-dihydroquinoline-3-carbohydrazide Derivatives as Novel Anti-HCV Agents

HCV-induced hepatitis is one of the most debilitating diseases. The limited number of anti-HCV drugs and drug-resistance necessitate developing of new scaffolds with different mode of actions. HCV non-structural protein 5B (NS5B) is an attractive target for development of novel inhibitors of HCV replication. In this paper, new N'-arylidene-6-(benzyloxy)-4-oxo-1,4-dihydroquinoline-3-carbohydrazide derivatives were designed based on the pharmacophores of HCV NS5B active site binding inhibitors. Designed compounds were synthesized and evaluated for their inhibitory activities in a cell-based HCV replicon system assay. Among tested compounds, compounds 18 and 20 were found to be the most active (EC50 = 35 and 70 µM, respectively) with good selectivity index (SI > 2) in the corresponding series. Molecular modeling studies showed that the designed compounds are capable of forming key coordination with the two magnesium ions as well as interactions with other key residues at the active site of HCV NS5B.