Synthesis and Anti‐<scp>HIV</scp> Activity of 4‐(Naphthalen‐1‐yl)‐1,2,5‐thiadiazol‐3‐hydroxyl Derivatives

A series of 4-(naphthalen-1-yl)-1,2,5-thiadiazol-3-hydroxyl derivatives (Ia-Im and IIa-IIe) designed as novel HIV-1 non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NNRTIs) was synthesized via an expeditious route and evaluated for their anti-HIV activities in MT-4 cell cultures. All the synthesized compounds were structurally confirmed by spectral analyses. Biological results showed that three analogues displayed moderate inhibitory activity against wild-type (wt) HIV-1 replication with EC(50) values ranging from 16 to 22 μm. Molecular docking of compound Ih with wt HIV-1 RT was performed to understand the binding mode between these inhibitors and the wt HIV-1 RT and to rationalize some SARs.