In an effort to identify a new class of druglike HIV-1
protease
inhibitors, four different stereopure β-hydroxy γ-lactam-containing
inhibitors have been synthesized, biologically evaluated, and cocrystallized.
The impact of the tether length of the central spacer (two or three
carbons) was also investigated. A compound with a shorter tether and
(3R,4S) absolute configuration exhibited
high activity with a Ki of 2.1 nM and
an EC50 of 0.64 μM. Further optimization by decoration
of the P1′ side chain furnished an even more potent HIV-1 protease
inhibitor (Ki = 0.8 nM, EC50 = 0.04 μM). According to X-ray analysis, the new class of
inhibitors did not fully succeed in forming two symmetric hydrogen
bonds to the catalytic aspartates. The crystal structures of the complexes
further explain the difference in potency between the shorter inhibitors
(two-carbon spacer) and the longer inhibitors (three-carbon spacer).