The recent outbreaks of Zika virus (ZIKV) infection worldwide make the discovery of novel antivirals against flaviviruses a research priority. This work describes the identification of novel inhibitors of ZIKV through a structure‐based virtual screening approach using the ZIKV NS5‐MTase. A novel series of molecules with a carbazoyl‐aryl‐urea structure has been discovered and a library of analogues has been synthesized. The new compounds inhibit ZIKV MTase with IC50 between 23–48 μM. In addition, carbazoyl‐aryl‐ureas also proved to inhibit ZIKV replication activity at micromolar concentration.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.