The limited scope of antiviral drugs and increasing problem of antiviral drug resistance represent a global health threat. Glycopeptide antibiotics and their lipophilic derivatives have emerged as relevant inhibitors of diverse viruses. Here, we describe a new strategy for the synthesis of dual hydrophobic and lipophobic derivatives of glycopeptides, to produce selective antiviral agents without membrane-disrupting activity. Perfluorobutyl and perfluorooctyl moieties through linkers of different length were attached to azido derivatives of vancomycin aglycone and teicoplanin pseudoaglycone, and the new derivatives were evaluated against a diverse panel of viruses. The teicoplanin derivatives displayed strong anti-influenza virus activity at non-toxic concentrations. Some of the perfluoroalkylated glycopeptides were also active against a few other viruses such as herpes simplex virus or coronavirus. These data encourage further exploration of glycopeptide analogues for broad antiviral application.
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