A phenanthridinone skeleton was derived from our previous researches on thalidomide and retinoids as a multi-template for generation of anti-viral lead compounds. Structural development studies focusing on anti-hepatitis C virus activity afforded 5-butyl-2-(1, 1, 1, 3, 3, 3-hexafluoro-2-hydroxypropan-2-yl) phenanthridin-6 (5H)-one (10) and 5-butylbenzo [b] phenanthridin-6 (5H)-one (39), which showed EC50 values of approximately 3.7 and 3.2 ...