Synthesis and Biological Evaluation of Quinolinone Compounds as SARS CoV 3CL^pro Inhibitors

SARS CoV 3CL^pro is known to be a promising target for development of therapeutic agents against the severe acute respiratory syndrome （SARS）. A quinolinone compound 1 was selected via virtual screening, and it was syn- thetized and tested for enzymatic inhibition in vitro. Compound 1 showed potent inhibitory activity （ICs0= 0.44 μmol/L） toward SARS CoV 3CL^pro. Further work on a series of quinolinone derivatives resulted in the discovery of the most potent compound 23, inhibiting SARS CoV 3CL^pro with an IC50 of 36.86 μmol/L. The structure-activity relationships were also discussed.