Discovery of Novel, Potent, and Selective Small-Molecule CCR5 Antagonists as Anti-HIV-1 Agents:  Synthesis and Biological Evaluation of Anilide Derivatives with a Quaternary Ammonium Moiety

The search for new small-molecule CCR5 antagonists by high-throughput screening (HTS) of the Takeda chemical library using (125)IRANTES and CHO/CCR5 cells led to the discovery of lead compounds (A, B) with a quaternary ammonium or phosphonium moiety, which were synthesized to investigate new MCP-1 receptor antagonists. A series of novel anilide derivatives 1 with a quaternary ammonium moiety were designed, synthesized, and tested for their CCR5 antagonistic activity. Through the optimization of lead compounds, we have found N,N-dimethyl-N-4-[[[2-(4-methylphenyl)-6, 7-dihydro-5H-benzocyclohepten-8-ylcarbonyl]amino]benzyl]tetrahydr o-2 H-pyran-4-aminium chloride (1r, TAK-779) as a highly potent and selective nonpeptide CCR5 antagonist with a IC(50) value of 1.4 nM in the binding assay. Compound 1r also inhibited the replication of macrophage (M)-tropic HIV-1 (Ba-L strain) in both MAGI-CCR5 cells and PBMCs with EC(50) values of 1.2 and 3.7 nM, respectively. The synthesis and structure-activity relationships of 1r and its related compounds are detailed.