Synthesis and molecular docking studies of quinoline derivatives as HIV non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors

Quinoline moiety is an important scaffold in the field of drug discovery and drug development, with a wide range of pharmacological activities. Quinoline derivatives are potent inhibitors for reverse transcriptase, which is responsible for the conversion of single-stranded viral RNA into double-stranded viral DNA.In the present study, we have designed and synthesized 2 series, namely pyrazoline and pyrimidine containing quinoline derivatives as non nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NNRTIs). Eleven compounds were synthesized and characterized by 1H and 13C NMR and mass spectrophotometry. The synthesized compounds were also docked on an HIV reverse transcriptase binding site (PDB: 4I2P); most of these compounds showed good binding interactions with the active domain of the receptor. Most of the compounds displayed a docking score higher than those of standard drugs. Among the synthesized quinoline derivatives, compound 4 exhibited the highest docking score (–10.675).