Abstract

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) NS5B polymerase is the key replicating protein of the virus and thus an attractive target for drug development. Here we report on the synthesis and biological evaluation of a new series of benzimidazole derivatives as HCV NS5B inhibitors. This yielded compound 6b and 6d bearing 2-(2-benzyloxy)phenyl and 2-(4- methylbenzyloxy)phenyl moieties, respectively, as promising leads. Binding mode of compound 6d in allosteric pocket (AP)-1 of NS5B will form the basis for future structure-activity relationship optimization.

Keywords: HCV, NS5B polymerase, Benzimidazole derivatives, RNA-dependent RNA polymerase, methylbenzyloxy, hepatocellular carcinoma, orthotopic liver transplants, CMV, RdRp, QSAR