Synthesis, biological evaluation and molecular docking study of N-(2-methoxyphenyl)-6-((4-nitrophenyl)sulfonyl)benzamide derivatives as potent HIV-1 Vif antagonists

Abstract Viral infectivity factor (Vif) is protective against APOBEC3G (A3G)-mediated viral cDNA hypermutations, and development of molecules that inhibit Vif mediated A3G degradation is a novel strategy for blocking HIV-1 replication. Through optimizations of the central ring of N -(2-methoxyphenyl)-2-((4-nitrophenyl)thio)benzamide ( RN-18 ), we found a potent compound 12c with EC 50 value of 1.54 μM, enhancing the antiviral activity more than 150-fold compared with RN-18 in nonpermissive H9 cells. 12c protected A3G from degradation by inhibiting Vif function. Besides, 12c suppressed different HIV-1 clinical strains (HIV-1 KM018 , HIV-1 TC-1 and HIV-1 WAN ) and drug-resistant strains (NRTI, NNRTI, PI, and FI) with relatively high activities. Amidation of 12c with glycine gave a prodrug 13a , improving the water solubility about 2600-fold compared with 12c . Moreover, 13a inhibited the virus replication efficiently with an EC 50 value of 0.228 μM. These results suggested that the prodrug 13a is a promising candidate agent for the treatment of AIDS.