HIV protease inhibitor HOE/BAY 793, structure-activity relationships in a series of C2-symmetric diols Original Research Article

A detailed structure-activity relationship of C2-symmetric diol inhibitors of HIV-1 protease leads to inhibitor 6 (HOE/BAY 793) which is outstanding in the inhibition of the enzyme and in the inhibition of viral replication in HIV infected cell culture (IC50: 0.3 nM; EC50: 3 nM). There are well defined steric requirements for the design of the side chains P1–P3 of the inhibitors. In addition, all three side chains need to be lipophilic. While the enzyme tolerates hydrophilic substituents in some cases, drastic reductions in anti-HIV activity are observed in cell culture, most likely due to insufficient cell penetration.