Synthesis and evaluation of pyridinium polyoxometalates as anti-HIV-1 agents

The unique properties of polyoxometalates, such as molecular polarity, redox potential, surface charge distribution, shape and acidity, influence their response of recognition to targeted biological macromolecules. By using PM-19 (K7PTi2W10O40) as a lead-compound, a series of novel pyridinium polyoxometalates (A7PTi2W10O40), which hadn’t been reported in literatures, were designed and synthesized. The evaluation was conducted using the single-cycle pseudovirus infection assay (TZM-bl assay), CCK-8 method was used for determining the cytotoxicity. The results indicated that the designed pyridinium polyoxometalates had a lower toxicity to TZM-bl cells, and showed higher inhibitory activity against HIV-1 virus.