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ACS Medicinal Chemistry Letters
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by fluorine, was found to be poorly active. Conclusively,
for actively enhancing the antiviral activity, although its
pure absence seemed to decrease the activity. Taken
together with the results from Group D, the nitrogen atom
of the ethylamine side chain seems to be essential for
antiviral activity, while the hydrogen bond donor is not.
Also, a bifurcation at the ethylamine side chain may be
taken into consideration with caution.
concerning the antiviral activity of the mono-substituted
analogues, the 4-F substituted analogue is more active than
3-F-substituted one, which is more active than the 2-F-
substituted compound. Concerning the double- and triple-
substituted compounds, the 3,4-F substituted 5l and the
2,3,4-F-substituted 5o are active; while the compounds
with 2,4-F (5m) and 3,4,5-F substitution pattern (5n) are
both only moderately active compared to 1.
In Group E, in a first step the optimal positions for the
nitrogen atoms in the pyrimidine ring were investigated. In
a second step, it was investigated whether the methyl group
as a substituent on the pyrimidine ring is essential or not.
The nitrogen at position R1 seemed to be necessary for good
antiviral activity. Shifting the nitrogen from position R1/3
(as in the initial hit 1) to position R1/2 (9a) resulted in an
improved antiviral activity.
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To investigate if the double substitution on the aromatic
ring with different halogens would also decrease the
antiviral activity, 5r was prepared. It showed moderate
activity against the virus, confirming our previous
observation, that the chloride substitution enhances the
antiviral activity. Nevertheless, the doubly substituted ring
also showed a weaker antiviral effect using chlorides (5r)
than the matching single substituted ring (5b).
Finally, the most interesting modifications were
combined to either reach a higher antiviral activity (11a
and 11c) or to deepen the knowledge of the chosen
variation (10, 11b). The result of 10 and 11b underline the
importance of the methyl group on the pyrimidine ring and
the shifting of the nitrogen to position R1/2. Moreover, the
decrease of activity with the cyclopropylamine side chain
(10) - although its size is comparable to the original
ethylamine - can possibly be explained by his impaired
flexibility and different three-dimensional geometry.
Summarizing the results from Group A, 17 out of the 19
compounds were active against CHIKV, with 3 compounds
being more potent than 1 (5b, 5c, and 5d). In those 3
compounds, other halogens replaced the fluorine at the
para position. Therefore, replacing fluorine on the benzene
ring by another halogen leads to an improvement in
antiviral activity (chlorine > iodine > bromine > fluorine).
5b with the chlorine atom as substituent on the para
position of the benzene ring showed the best test results;
therefore, the fluorine/chlorine replacement should be
considered for further optimisation.
Surprisingly, the combination of the most promising
alterations (Group B: amide and Group E: shifted N to
position R1/2) in combination with either the best alteration
of Group A (para-chloride, 11a) or with the introduction of
an isopropyl-side chain (Group D, 11c) gave not the desired
gain of antiviral activity.
In Group B, both compounds showed impressive test
results – 6a has an EC50 of 4.0 ± 1 µM, and 6b has an EC50 of
2.5 μM. Conclusively, both compounds are more than twice
as active as 1. Although 6b is even more active than 6a,
compound 6a should be considered for further
optimisation due to cytotoxicity reasons (1: CC50 = 122 μM,
SI = 14.2; 6a: CC50 = 260 μM, SI = 60.9; 6b: CC50 = 69.3 μM,
SI = 19.7). Therefore, compared to 1, the modification in 6a
led to an improvement in activity, cytotoxicity and
selectivity; while the modification in 6b led to a higher
cytotoxicity.
.
CONCLUSION
this study,
In
we
present
several
2-(4-
(phenylsulfonyl)piperazine-1-yl)pyrimidine and analogues
as selective and potent inhibitors of CHIKV. All compounds
described are easily accessible in a four-step synthesis
route: starting from the required substituted pyrimidine
reacting with the Boc-protected piperazine or other
suitable nitrogen-containing functional groups under
microwave irradiation, followed by deprotection and finally
reaction with a benzene sulfonyl chloride. Additionally, the
structural requirements for a significant anti-CHIKV activity
have been determined on all five structural molecular-
subgroups. During this optimisation process, 6a was
identified as a potent and selective inhibitor of CHIKV,
demonstrating a much better profile than the starting point,
hit 1, and a selectivity index greater than 61. Furthermore,
the optimised compound showed a wide-spectrum antiviral
activity against all tested strains of CHIKV (data will be
published elsewhere). Further structure-activity studies
and optimisation of the antiviral activity are ongoing and
mechanism of action studies are being performed to
determine the molecular target of this novel class of anti-
CHIKV compounds. These studies point towards the viral
capping machinery and more specifically to the viral protein
nsP1 as the antiviral target of these compounds. Cross-
resistance with another class of capping inhibitors, the
In Group C, the prepared analogues were less active than
1. Conclusively, 1,4-piperazine as a linker has proven to be
the better choice to reach a potent antiviral activity.
The replacement of the ethylamine side chain with
isopropylamine (8a) or tert butylamine (8b) demonstrated
good activity against the CHIKV, which unfortunately was
accompanied by increased cytotoxicity (8a: CC50 = 66.4 μM,
SI = 9.83; 8b: CC50 = 18.6 μM, SI = 1.17). In addition, it was
investigated whether the nitrogen or the hydrogen atom of
the ethylamine side chain is essential for activity and
whether the antiviral activity of the compound would
increase with higher molecular lipophilicity. Therefore, 8c
was prepared in which an ethoxy side chain replaced the
ethylamine side chain. However, 8c did not show any
antiviral activity. To understand whether this loss of
activity depends on the missing nitrogen atom or the
absence of the hydrogen bond donor function, 8d was
synthesised, in which a pyrrolidine ring replaced the
ethylamine side chain. The result from 8d (EC50 of 33 ± 7
µM) indicated that the hydrogen bond donor is not essential
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