Conformational analysis of TMC114, a novel HIV-1 protease inhibitor

TMC114, a potent novel HIV-1 protease inhibitor, remains active against a broad spectrum of mutant viruses. In order to bind to a variety of mutants, the compound needs to make strong, preferably backbone, interactions and have enough conformational flexibility to adapt to the changing geometry of the active site. The conformational analysis of TMC114 in the gas phase yielded 43 conformers in which five types of intramolecular H-bond interactions could be observed. All 43 conformers were subject to both rigid and flexible ligand docking in the wild-type and a triple mutant (L63P/V82T/I84V) of HIV-1 protease. The largest binding energy was calculated for the conformations that are close to the conformation observed in the X-ray complexes of TMC114 and HIV-1 protease.