Physicochemical property-driven optimization of diarylaniline compounds as potent HIV-1 non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors

Using physicochemical property-driven optimization, twelve new diarylaniline compounds (DAANs) (7a-h, 11a-b and 12a-b) were designed and synthesized. Among them, compounds 12a-b not only showed high potency (EC50 0.96-4.92 nM) against both wild-type and drug-resistant viral strains with the lowest fold change (FC 0.91 and 5.13), but also displayed acceptable drug-like properties based on aqueous solubility and lipophilicity (LE > 0.3, LLE > 5, LELP < 10). The correlations between potency and physicochemical properties of these DAAN analogues are also described. Compounds 12a-b merit further development as potent clinical trial candidates against AIDS.