A novel series of fifteen 3-(3,4-dihydroisoquinolin-2($1H$)-yl)-𝑁-(substituted phenyl) propanamides 3(a-o) were synthesized by reacting the corresponding 3-chloro-𝑁-(aryl) propanamides 2(a-o) with 1,2,3,4-tetrahydroisoquinoline 1 in acetonitrile. The compounds have been characterized on the basis of elemental analysis and spectral data. All the compounds were evaluated for their HIV-1 RT inhibitory activity. Among the synthesized compounds, 3-(3,4-dihydroisoquinolin-2($1H$)-yl)-𝑁-𝑜-tolyl propanamide 3d and 3-(3,4-dihydroisoquinolin-2(1H)-yl)-𝑁-(2,4,6-tribromophenyl)propanamide 3f were identified as significant inhibitors of HIV-1 reverse transcriptase with 56% and 43% residual RT activity respectively at the final concentration of 40 𝜇M when compared with the standard drug Efavirenz. Docking studies with HIV-1 RT (PDB ID 1rt2) were also performed in order to investigate the binding pattern of these compounds.