Design, synthesis, evaluation and X-ray structural studies of potent HIV-1 protease inhibitors containing substituted oxaspirocyclic carbamates as the P2 ligands.
Ghosh, A.K., Shaktah, R., Ghosh, A.K., Johnson, M.E., Bhandari, D., Amano, M., Aoki, M., Kovalevsky, A., Mitsuya, H.(2025) Eur J Med Chem 297: 117880-117880
- PubMed: 40644923 
- DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejmech.2025.117880
- Primary Citation of Related Structures:  
9OBI - PubMed Abstract: 
We report here the design, synthesis and evaluation of a series of HIV-1 protease inhibitors that incorporate substituted oxaspirocyclic carbamate derivatives to serve as the P2 ligands. Various substituted ligand derivatives were synthesized in a racemic manner, using a tandem Prins/pinacol reaction as the key reaction. This reaction sets the relative stereochemistry of the oxaspirocyclic template in a highly diastereoselective manner. Reaction of the resulting ketone with enantiopure (S)-tert-butyl sulfinamide provided a convenient pathway to resolve the oxaspirocyclic ketone derivatives. The absolute stereochemical identity was determined by X-ray crystallography. The structure-activity studies demonstrate the effect of the stereochemistry of the oxaspirocyclic ring systems as well as the substitution effect on the aromatic ring. Several inhibitors exhibited potent HIV-1 protease inhibitory activity. One of these inhibitors displayed subnanomolar HIV-1 protease affinity and also exhibited potent antiviral activity. A high-resolution X-ray crystal structure of this inhibitor-bound HIV-1 protease show that the oxaspirocyclic P2 ligand forms an unconventional C-H⋯O bond with the backbone carboxyl group of Gly48' and an interesting N-H … π interaction with the aromatic ring in the S2 subsite of HIV-1 protease active site.
- Department of Chemistry, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, 47907, USA; Department of Medicinal Chemistry and Molecular Pharmacology, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, 47907, USA. Electronic address: akghosh@purdue.edu.
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