This paper reports the synthesis and the antiviral properties of new diarylpyrimidine (DAPY) compounds as nonnucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NNRTIs). The synthesis program around this new DAPY series was further optimized to produce compounds displaying improved activity against a panel of eight clinically relevant single and double mutant strains of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1).

A series of C-5 methyl substituted 4-arylthio- and 4-aryloxy-3-iodopyridin-2(1H)-ones has been synthesized as new pyridinone analogues for their evaluation as anti-HIV inhibitors. The optimization at the 5-position was developed through an efficient use of the key intermediates 5-ethoxycarbonyl- and 5-cyano-pyridin-2(1H)-ones (14 and 15). Biological studies revealed that several compounds show potent HIV-1 reverse transcriptase inhibitory properties, for example, compounds 93 and 99 are active at 0.6-50 nM against wild type HIV-1 and a panel of major simple/double HIV mutant strains.