Anti-HAV evaluation and molecular docking of newly synthesized 3-benzyl(phenethyl)benzo[g]quinazolines

Abstract Synthesized 3-benzyl(phenethyl)benzo[ g ]quinazolines ( 1 – 17 ) were evaluated in vitro to determine their effects against the anti-hepatitis A virus (HAV) using a cytopathic effect inhibition assay. Of the synthesized compounds, 16 and 17 showed considerably high anti-HAV activity, as indicated by their EC 50 values of 27.59 and 18 μM, respectively, when compared to that of amantadine (37.3 μM), the standard therapeutic agent. In addition, they exhibited low cytotoxicity as indicated by their CC 50 values, 290.63 and 569.45 μM, respectively. Compounds 1 , 2 , and 5 exhibited remarkable activity compared to the active compounds ( 16 , 17 ) and amantadine. The selectivity index (SI) values were calculated and applied as a parameter for classifying the activity of the targets. In addition, molecular docking was performed to rationalize the SAR of the target compounds and analyze the binding modes between the docked-selected compounds and amino acid residues in the active site of the HAV-3C proteinase enzyme.