Abstract
Hepatitis C virus inhibitors based on benzoxazole scaffold were designed based on molecular
modeling simulation study including docking into the NS5B polymerase active site.
Several compounds showed significant high simulation docking scores relative to the
assigned benzimidazole lead compound. The designed compounds were synthesized, structurally
elucidated and their antiviral activity was evaluated through cell-based replicon
in cultured Huh 5-2 cells. A number of the synthesized compounds showed significant
inhibitory activity ranging from (52.2% inhibition up to 98% at<50 µg/mL). N-Benzyl-2-phenylbenzo[1,3]oxazole-5-carboxamide
(8b) and N-Phenethyl-2-phenylbenzo[1,3] oxazole-5-carboxamide (8c) demonstrated genuine
HCV inhibitory activity with EC50 values of 41.6 and 24.5 µg/mL respectively.
Key words
molecular modeling - hepatitis C virus inhibitors - replicon assay - benzoxazole derivatives