Design, synthesis and biological evaluation of small molecular polyphenols as entry inhibitors against H5N1

To find novel compounds against H5N1, three series of known or novel small molecular polyphenols were synthesized and tested in vitro for anti-H5N1 activity. In addition, the preliminary structure-antiviral activity relationships were elaborated. The results showed that some small molecular polyphenols had better anti-H5N1 activity, and could serve as novel virus entry inhibitors against H5N1, likely targeting to HA2 protein. Noticeably, compound 4a showed the strongest activity against H5N1 among these compounds, and the molecular modeling analysis also suggested that this compound might target to HA2 protein. Therefore, compound 4a is well qualified to serve as a lead compound or scaffold for the further development of H5N1 entry inhibitor.