Search

A series of 5′-nor carbocyclic “reverse” flexible nucleosides or “fleximers” have been designed wherein the nucleobase scaffold resembles a “split” purine as well as a substituted pyrimidine. This modification was employed to explore recognition by both purine and pyrimidine metabolizing enzymes. The synthesis of the carbocyclic fleximers and the results of their preliminary biological screening are described herein.

A new series of potential nonnucleoside inhibitors of HIV-1 reverse transcriptase (NNRTIs) based on the carbocyclic 5′-nor-uracil scaffold were designed and synthesized. Binding modes in the active site of the enzyme were studied computationally to provide insight on potential interactions. Several of the 2′,3′-dideoxy-2′,3′-didehydro-5′-nor-uridine analogues showed inhibitory activity against wild-type and mutant (L100I) HIV-RT with Ki 13–18 μM and 1–11 μM, respectively.

A new series of potential nonnucleoside inhibitors of HIV-1 reverse transcriptase (NNRTIs) based on the carbocyclic 5′-nor-uracil scaffold were designed and synthesized. Three different aspects of the scaffold were investigated: the effects of adding a linker between the carbocyclic and phenyl fragments, introduction of different substituents on the benzoyl residue and replacing the central carbocyclic ring with a benzyl group. Analogues of 2′,3′-dideoxy-2′,3′-didehydro-5′-nor-uridine, bearing 3,5-dichloro- or 3,5-dimethylbenzoyl groups, showed inhibitory activity against HIV-RT wild-type (IC50 5–10 μM) and mutants L100I (IC50 1.2–2.1 μM) and K103N (IC50 8–17 μM).