Inhibitors of HIV reverse transcriptase which are useful for the treatment of HIV infection. Exemplars of the invention are compounds of the formula ##STR00001## wherein the substituents are as defined in the following table TABLE-US-00001 R.sup.1 R.sup.2 R.sup.4 R.sup.5 R.sup.8a F CF.sub.3 Me H --OH F CF.sub.3 Cl H --OH F CF.sub.3 Me H --O--CH.sub.2CO.sub.2H Cl CN Cl H --OH.