5-Alkyl-2-[(methylthiomethyl)thio]-6-(benzyl)-pyrimidin-4-(1H)-ones as potent non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors of S-DABO series.

Novel dihydroalkoxybenzyloxopyrimidine (S-DABO) derivatives targeting the non-nucleoside inhibitor (NNI) binding site of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) reverse transcriptase (RT) have been synthesized using a novel computer model for the NNI binding pocket and tested for their RT inhibitory activity in cell-free assays using purified recombinant HIV RT as well as for their anti-HIV activity in HTL VIIIB-infected peripheral blood mononuclear cells. Our computational approach allowed the identification of several ligand derivatization sites for the generation of more potent S-DABO derivatives. Our lead S-DABO derivative, 5-isopropyl-2-[(methylthiomethyl)thio]-6-(benzyl)-pyrimidin-4-(1H)-one (compound 3), elicited potent anti-HIV activity with an IC50 value of less than 1nM for inhibition of HIV replication without any evidence of cytotoxicity and an unprecedented selectivity index of > 100,000.