To yield potent HIV-1 non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NNRTIs) with favorable drug-like properties, a series of novel diarylpyrimidine derivatives targeting the tolerant region I of the NNRTI binding pocket were designed, synthesized and biologically evaluated. The most active inhibitor 10c exhibited outstanding antiviral activity against most of the viral panel, being about 2-fold (wild-type, EC = 0.0021 μM), 1.7-fold (K103N, EC = 0.0019 μM), and slightly more potent (E138K, EC = 0.0075 μM) than the NNRTI drug etravirine (ETR). Additionally, 10c was endowed with relatively low cytotoxicity (CC = 18.52 μM). More importantly, 10c possessed improved drug-like properties compared to those of ETR with an increased Fsp (Fraction of sp carbon atoms) value. Furthermore, the molecular dynamics simulation and molecular docking studies were implemented to reveal the binding mode of 10c in the binding pocket. Taken together, 10c is a promising lead compound that is worth further investigation.