Abstract
HIV-1 is currently an incurable disease due to its different strains and high mutation rate [1,10]. Research has shown that the Tat-TAR interaction, which is responsible for the initiation and efficiency of the HIV-1 replication cycle, is a highly conserved interaction among various strains [4]. This interaction is mainly electrostatic and occurs between the positive Tat peptide ARM sequence, a highly basic structure, and the negatively charged backbone of the TAR RNA [12-14]. Certain synthetic molecules containing sulfonate functionalities have been shown to effectively mimic the negative charge on the TAR RNA backbone and bind to the nascent Tat peptide, thus interfering with the Tat-TAR interaction [4]. The following research proposes the synthesis of inhibitory molecules from multivalent polymers with varying ligand type, polymer\r length, and ligand density that mimic the TAR RNA and which can potentially be used to inhibit that Tat-TAR interaction.