Design, synthesis and biological evaluation of 2-aminoquinazolin-4(3H)-one derivatives as potential SARS-CoV-2 and MERS-CoV treatments

Despite the rising threat of fatal coronaviruses, there are no general proven effective antivirals to treat them. 2-Aminoquinazolin-4(3H)-one derivatives were newly designed, synthesized, and investigated to show the inhibitory effects on SARS-CoV-2 and MERS-CoV. Among the synthesized derivatives, 7-chloro-2-((3,5-dichlorophenyl)amino)quinazolin-4(3H)-one (9g) and 2-((3,5-dichlorophenyl)amino)-5-hydroxyquinazolin-4 (3H)-one (11e) showed the most potent anti-SARS-CoV-2 activities (IC50 < 0.25 μM) and anti-MERS-CoV activities (IC50 < 1.1 μM) with no cytotoxicity (CC50 > 25 μM). In addition, both compounds showed acceptable results in metabolic stabilities, hERG binding affinities, CYP inhibitions, and preliminary PK studies.