V. Molteni et al., A new class of HIV-1 integrase inhibitors: The 3,3,3 ',3 '-tetramethyl-1,1'-spirobi(indan)-5,5 ',6,6 '-tetrol family, J MED CHEM, 43(10), 2000, pp. 2031-2039
Integration is a required step in HIV replication, but as yet no inhibitors
of the integration step have been developed for clinical use. Many inhibit
ors have been identified that are active against purified viral-encoded int
egrase protein; of these many contain a catechol moiety. Though this substr
ucture contributes potency in inhibitors, it is associated with toxicity an
d so the utility of catechol-containing inhibitors has been questioned. We
have synthesized and tested a systematic series of derivatives of a catecho
l-containing inhibitor (1) with the goal of identifying catechol isosteres
that support inhibition. We find that different patterns of substitution on
the aromatic ring suffice for inhibition when Mn2+ is used as a cofactor.
Importantly, the efficiency is different when Mg2+, the more likely in vivo
cofactor, is used. These data emphasize the importance of assays with Mg2 and offer new catechol isosteres for use in integrase inhibitors.