1-Nicotinoylbenzotriazole: A Convenient Tool for Site-Selective Protection of 5,7-Dihydroxycoumarins

1-Nicotinoylbenzotriazole (NicBt) was uncovered as an efficient protecting agent for the site-selective acylation of resorcinol-type phenolic groups with almost equal reactivity. The use of NicBt allows selective protection of the 7-OH group in 5,7-dihydroxycoumarins in one simple scalable step, while combination of the nicotinoylation with tosylation–denicotinoylation or silylation–denicotinoylation yields 5-OH-protected 5,7-dihydroxycoumarins. Furthermore, nicotinoylated 5,7-dihydroxycoumarins proved useful in a gram-scale three-step preparation of a 2,2-dimethylpyrano[2,3-f]coumarin, a key intermediate for the synthesis of calanolide A, an HIV reverse transcriptase and Mycobacterium tuberculosis inhibitor, and its active analogues.

F18, a Novel Small-Molecule Nonnucleoside Reverse Transcriptase Inhibitor, Inhibits HIV-1 Replication Using Distinct Binding Motifs as Demonstrated by Resistance Selection and Docking Analysis

ABSTRACTNonnucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NNRTIs) are one of the key components of antiretroviral therapy drug regimen against human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) replication. We previously described a newly synthesized small molecule, 10-chloromethyl-11-demethyl-12-oxo-calanolide A (F18), a (+)-calanolide A analog, as a novel anti-HIV-1 NNRTI (H. Xue et al., J. Med. Chem. 53:1397–1401, 2010). Here, we further investigated its antiviral range, drug resistance profile, and underlying mechanism of action. F18 consistently displayed potent activity against primary HIV-1 isolates, including various subtypes of group M, circulating recombinant form (CRF) 01_AE, and laboratory-adapted drug-resistant viruses. Moreover, F18 displayed distinct profiles against 17 NNRTI-resistant pseudoviruses, with an excellent potency especially against one of the most prevalent strains with the Y181C mutation (50% effective concentration, 1.0 nM), which was in stark contrast to the extensively used NNRTIs nevirapine and efavirenz. Moreover, we induced F18-resistant viruses byin vitroserial passages and found that the mutation L100I appeared to be the dominant contributor to F18 resistance, further suggesting a binding motif different from that of nevirapine and efavirenz. F18 was nonantagonistic when used in combination with other antiretrovirals against both wild-type and drug-resistant viruses in infected peripheral blood mononuclear cells. Interestingly, F18 displayed a highly synergistic antiviral effect with nevirapine against nevirapine-resistant virus (Y181C). Furthermore,in silicodocking analysis suggested that F18 may bind to the HIV-1 reverse transcriptase differently from other NNRTIs. This study presents F18 as a new potential drug for clinical use and also presents a new mechanism-based design for future NNRTI.