Design and synthesis of a novel series of non-nucleoside HIV-1 inhibitors bearing pyrimidine and N-substituted aromatic piperazine.

A novel series of substituted piperazine-1-yl-pyrimidine derivatives were designed and synthesized as a new type of HIV-1 non-nucleoside inhibitors. Various N-substituted aromatic groups were incorporated into the piperazine ring through a simple and practical route to investigate the biological activity of these target compounds against wild-type and resistant strains of HIV-1. All of the target compounds were also evaluated as HIV-1 reverse transcriptase inhibitors in MT-4 cell cultures. The biological results showed that six of these compounds displayed inhibitory activities against the wild-type strain, among of which 7q and 7t were found to be the two most active analogues possessing EC values of 31.50 μM and 3.36 μM, respectively. Molecular modeling studies of 7q provide valuable information for developing new anti-HIV-1 inhibitors.