Specific Targeting of Highly Conserved Residues in the HIV-1 Reverse Transcriptase Primer Grip Region. 2. Stereoselective Interaction to Overcome the Effects of Drug Resistant Mutations

Starting from the prototypic compound 4, we describe new, potent, and broad-spectrum pyrrolobenzo(pyrido)oxazepinones antivirals. A biochemical and enzymological investigation was performed for defining their mechanism of inhibition at either recombinant HIV-1 RT wild type and non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NNRTIs)-resistant mutants. For the novel compounds (S)-(+)-5 and (S)-(−)-7, a clear-cut stereoselective mechanism of enzyme inhibition was found. Molecular modeling studies were performed for revealing the underpinnings of this behavior.