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  2. Bioisosteric replacement of the carboxylic acid group in Hepatitis-C virus NS5B thumb site II inhibitors: phenylalanine derivatives

Bioisosteric replacement of the carboxylic acid group in Hepatitis-C virus NS5B thumb site II inhibitors: phenylalanine derivatives

  • Eur J Med Chem. 2024 Sep 5:279:116832. doi: 10.1016/j.ejmech.2024.116832.
Merve Camci 1 Halil Şenol 2 Aytekin Kose 3 Berin Karaman Mayack 4 Muhammed Moyasar Alayoubi 5 Nilgun Karali 6 Mikail Hakan Gezginci 7
Affiliations

Affiliations

  • 1 Istanbul University, Faculty of Pharmacy, Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, 34116, Istanbul, Turkey; Graduate School of Health Sciences, Istanbul University, 34126, Istanbul, Turkey. Electronic address: mervecamci@istanbul.edu.tr.
  • 2 Bezmialem Vakif University, Faculty of Pharmacy, Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, 34093, Istanbul, Turkey. Electronic address: hsenol@bezmialem.edu.tr.
  • 3 Aksaray University, Faculty of Science and Letters, Department of Chemistry, 68100, Aksaray, Turkey. Electronic address: aytekinkose@aksaray.edu.tr.
  • 4 Istanbul University, Faculty of Pharmacy, Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, 34116, Istanbul, Turkey; Department of Pharmacology, School of Medicine, University of California Davis, Davis, CA, 95616, USA. Electronic address: bkaramanmayack@ucdavis.edu.
  • 5 Sabanci University, Graduate School of Engineering and Natural Sciences, 34956, Istanbul, Turkey. Electronic address: muhammed.ayoubi@alumni.sabanciuniv.edu.
  • 6 Istanbul University, Faculty of Pharmacy, Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, 34116, Istanbul, Turkey. Electronic address: karalin@istanbul.edu.tr.
  • 7 Istanbul University, Faculty of Pharmacy, Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, 34116, Istanbul, Turkey. Electronic address: hakan1@europe.com.
Abstract

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) is a global health concern and the NS5B RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RdRp) of HCV is an attractive target for drug discovery due to its role in viral replication. This study focuses on NS5B thumb site II inhibitors, specifically phenylalanine derivatives, and explores bioisosteric replacement and prodrug strategies to overcome limitations associated with carboxylic acid functionality. The synthesized compounds demonstrated Antiviral activity, with compound 6d showing the most potent activity with an EC50 value of 3.717 μM. The hydroxamidine derivatives 7a-d showed EC50 values ranging from 3.9 μM to 11.3 μM. However, the acidic heterocyclic derivatives containing the oxadiazolone (8a-d) and oxadiazolethione (9a-d) rings did not exhibit measurable activity. A methylated heterocycle 10b showed a hint of activity at 8.09 μM. The pivaloyloxymethyl derivatives 11a and 11b did not show Antiviral activity. Further studies are warranted to fully understand the effects of these modifications and to explore additional strategies for developing novel therapeutic options for HCV.

Keywords

Antiviral agents; Bioisosterism; Carboxylic acid; Hepatitis C virus; NS5B RdRp; Phenylalanine; Prodrugs.

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