Antiviral activity of benzothiazole and benzothiazolinethione derivatives in cell cultures.

The virus inhibitory activity of benzothiazole, benzothiazolinethione and naphthothiazole derivatives was tested with vaccinia virus, Newcastle disease virus (NDV) and western equine encephalomyelitis (WEE) virus in the agar-diffusion plaque-inhibition test. Among 58 compounds examined, 5 showed medium activity and selectivity with vaccinia virus. The highest selective effect was found with 3-(2-ethylthio-6-benzothiazolylaminomethyl)-2-benzothiazolinethione. A much lower inhibitory effect was observed with several derivatives against WEE virus. One derivative (2-mercaptobenzothiazole) showed a low inhibitory effect against NDV.