Synthesis and biological evaluation of novel quinoxalinone-based HIV-1 reverse transcriptase inhibitors

Abstract

A series of novel N⁴-substituted thiophen-3-ylsulfonylquinoxalinone derivatives were designed and synthesized by variations of 2- and 5-position of the thiophene ring. All target molecules were tested for their anti-HIV-1 replication activities and compounds 1b and 1d were found to be the most potent inhibitors with an IC₅₀ value at 10⁻⁸ mol L⁻¹ level. The preliminary structure–activity relationships were analyzed on the basis of the binding mode of compound 1b predicted by CDOCKER.