The first paper in this series (see previous article) described structure-activity studies of carboxamide analogues of zanamivir binding to influenza virus sialidase types A and B and showed that inhibitory activity of these compounds was much greater against influenza A enzyme. To understand the large differences in affinities, a number of protein-ligand complexes have been investigated using crystallography and molecular dynamics. The crystallographic studies show that the binding of ligands containing tertiary amide groups is accompanied by the formation of an intramolecular planar salt bridge between two amino acid residues in the active site of the enzyme. It is proposed that the unexpected strong binding of these inhibitors is a result of the burial of hydrophobic surface area and salt-bridge formation in an environment of low dielectric. In sialidase from type A virus, binding of the carboxamide moeity and salt-bridge formation have only a minor effect on the positions of the surrounding residues, whereas in type B enzyme, significant distortion of the protein is observed. The results suggest that the decreased affinity in enzyme from influenza B is directly correlated with the small changes that occur in the amino acid residue interactions accompanying ligand binding. Molecular dynamics calculations have shown that the tendency for salt-bridge formation is greater in influenza A sialidase than influenza B sialidase and that this tendency is a useful descriptor for the prediction of inhibitor potency.

4-Amino- and 4-guanidino-4H-pyran-6-carboxamides 4 and 5 related to zanamivir (GG167) are a new class of inhibitors of influenza virus sialidases. Structure--activity studies reveal that, in general, secondary amides are weak inhibitors of both influenza A and B viral sialidases. However, tertiary amides, which contain one or more small alkyl groups, show much greater inhibitory activity, particularly against the influenza A virus enzyme. The sialidase inhibitory activities of these compounds correlate well with their in vitro antiviral efficacy, and several of the most potent analogues displayed useful antiviral activity in vivo when evaluated in a mouse model of influenza A virus infection. Carboxamides which were highly active sialidase inhibitors in vitro also showed good antiviral activity in the mouse efficacy model of influenza A infection when administered intranasally but displayed modest activity when delivered by the intraperitoneal route.

South Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3QYStructural investigation of the products obtained by microbiological hydroxylation of substrates in the androstane, pregnane, and mstrane series has involved examining the l H n.m.r. spectra of 344 steroids, 243 of them being new compounds. Mild oxidation of the products gives polyketones in which the positions of the oxo-groups are characterised by the chemical and solvent shifts of the 18-H and 19-H signals. This information is supplemented by the chemical shifts of the products' 18-H and 19-H signals, and by the positions and form of their )CH-OH resonances : the latter are especially useful in establishing the configurations of the hydroxy-groups.FOR the past five years we have been studying the hydroxylation of mono-and di-oxygenated steroids with a range of micro-0rganisrns.l The intention was to vary the positions of the oxygen substituents around the steroid nucleus in a systematic manner: it was -gate, ibid., 1969, 463. hoped that the use of relatively simple substrates would facilitate interpret at ion of the microbiological behaviour. A considerable body of results has accrued from examining monoketones, keto-alcohols, and diketones derived from handrostane, 5a-pregnane, and 5a-cestrane ; a series of papers describing the work will be submitted shortly to this Journal. The preparation of substrates and related chemical studies are being recorded in a separate series2

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