Structural analysis of flavonoids with anti-HIV activity

A theoretical study on the structure of twenty flavonoids with anti-HIV act ivity was performed. The structural properties of these compounds were dete rmined with the AM1 method. Analysis of the obtained quantum data with the Principal Components Analysis (PCA) method showed that the compounds belong to four well differentiated structural patterns: flavones, flavonols, flav anones and benzo-gamma-pyrones. In addition, using the Hierarchical Cluster Analysis (HCA) method, the flavonoids were classified into three groups ac cording to their conformational properties. The obtained results permitted to propose a very good relation between the conformational equilibrium cons tants of these compounds with the structural characteristics of their confo rmers. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.