Design, synthesis and biological activity of thiazolidine-4-carboxylic acid derivatives as novel influenza neuraminidase inhibitors.

A series of thiazolidine-4-carboxylic acid derivatives were synthesized and evaluated for their ability to inhibit neuraminidase (NA) of influenza A virus. All the compounds were synthesized in good yields starting from commercially available l-cysteine hydrochloride using a suitable synthetic strategy. These compounds showed moderate inhibitory activity against influenza A neuraminidase. The most potent compound of this series is compound 4f (IC(50)=0.14 µM), which is about sevenfold less potent than oseltamivir and could be used to design novel influenza NA inhibitors that exhibit increased activity based on thiazolidine ring.