A novel series of sixteen 2-(3,4-dihydroisoquinolin-2(1H)-yl)-N-(substituted phenyl)acetamides 3a-p were synthesized by reacting 1,2,3,4-tetrahydroisoquinoline 2 with the corresponding 2- chloro-N-(substituted phenyl)acetamides 1a-p in acetonitrile. The compounds have been characterized on the basis of elemental analysis and spectral data. All the synthesized compounds were evaluated for their HIV-1 RT inhibitory activity. Compounds 3k and 3m were identified as moderate inhibitors of HIV-1 reverse transcriptase with 25% RT inhibitory activity at the final concentration of 40 μM when compared with the standard drug efavirenz. Docking studies with HIV-1 RT (PDB ID 1rt2) were also performed for these compounds in order to investigate the binding pattern of these compounds in the active site of HIV-1 RT.
