Novel Peptide Mimetics Based on N-protected Amino Acids Derived from Isomannide as Potential Inhibitors of NS3 Serine Protease of Hepatitis C Virus

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) is among the most important flaviviruses. It has a serine protease which is important for viral replication and this enzyme constitutes a suitable target for new anti-retroviral drugs. Herein we disclose a series of amide and ester peptide mimetic inhibitors of serine proteases, all of them obtained via coupling reactions of isomannide derivatives with N-protected amino acids. The arginine derivative 19 showed 45% of inhibition of NS3/4A serine protease at 100 mu M and molecular modeling studies had shown that 19 interacted with the active site of this enzyme.