Synthesis and biological evaluation of sophocarpinic acid derivatives as anti-HCV agents

• Main Authors: Yinghong Li, Zonggen Peng, Limei Gao, Danqing Song
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier 2014-08-01
• Series: Acta Pharmaceutica Sinica B
• Subjects: Sophocarpinic acid; Matrine; Anti-HCV; Antiviral activity; Structure−activity relationship
• Online Access: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2211383514000549
• ISSN: 2211-3835; 2211-3843

Chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection has become a major public health burden worldwide. Twenty-two sophocarpinic acid or matrine derivatives were synthesized and their anti-HCV activities were evaluated in vitro. The structure-activity analysis revealed that (i) sophocarpinic acids with a D-seco 3-ring structure scaffold were more favorable than matrines with a 4-ring scaffold; (ii) the introduction of an electron-withdrawing group on the phenyl ring in 12-N-benzenesulfonyl Δβγ sophocarpinic acids was beneficial for the antiviral activity against HCV. Among them, compounds 9h and 9j exhibited the most potent inhibitory activities on HCV replication with selectivity indies of 70.3 and 30.9, respectively. Therefore, both were selected as antiviral candidates for further investigation.