Design, Synthesis, and Preclinical Evaluations of Novel 4-Substituted 1,5-Diarylanilines as Potent HIV-1 Non-Nucleoside Reverse Transcriptase Inhibitor (NNRTI) Drug Candidates

Twenty-one new 4-substituted diarylaniline compounds (DAANs) (Scheme 2, series 13, 14, and 15) were designed, synthesized, and evaluated against wild-type and drug resistant HIV-1 viral strains. As a result, approximately a dozen new DAANs showed high potency with low nano- to sub-nanomolar EC50 values ranging from 0.2 to 10 nM. The three most promising compounds 14e, 14h, and 15h exhibited high potency against wild-type and drug-resistant viral strains with EC50 values at the sub-nanomolar level (0.29–0.87 nM), and were comparable to or more potent than the new NNRTI drug riplivirine (2) in the same assays. Drug-like physicochemical property assessments revealed that the most active DAANs (EC50 1–90 μg/mL at pH 7.4 and pH 2) and metabolic stability in vitro than 2, as well as desirable log P values (2). These promising results warrant further development of this novel compound class as potential potent anti-AIDS clinical trial candidates