Antiviral and Quantitative Structure Activity Relationship Study for Dihydropyridones Derived from Curcumin

Problem statement: Pyridones are known to have variety of biological activities like antitumor, antibacterial, anti-inflammatory and antimalarial activities. This study presents antiviral evaluation of dihydropyridones derived from curcumin, as well as curcumin for comparison. Approach: The compounds evaluated for their in vitro antiviral activities against the viruses: HIV-1, Bovin viral Diarrhea, Yellow Fever, Reovirus 1, Herpesvirus 1, Vaccinia, Vescular Stomatitis, Coxackie virus B2, Poliovirus 1 and Respiratory Syncytial viruses by using Microculture Tetrazolium assay (MTT) method. The method was based on the metabolic reduction of 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2- yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide. Results: Antiviral biological activities represented as CC50 were within the range >100-26 for BHK-21, while they were within the range >90-≥13 against Respiratory Syncytial Virus when represented as EC₅₀ for example. Both CC₅₀ and EC₅₀ values were found to increase with increasing chain length of the substituent on the nitrogen atom. Conclusion: The in vitro antiviral activities of the tested dihydropyridones can be enhanced by increasing chain length of the substituent on the nitrogen atom.