A series of pyridylimidazolidinone derivatives was synthesized and tested in vitro against enterovirus 71 (EV71). On the basis of compound 33 (DBPR103), introduction of a methyl group at the 2-or 3-position of the linker between the imidazolidinone and the biphenyl resulted in markedly improved antiviral activity toward EV71 with IC50 values of 5.0 nM (24b) and 9.3 nM (14a), respectively. Increasing the branched chain to propyl resulted in a ...