1,2,3-Triazole Linked Chalcone-Morpholine Hybrids: Synthesis, In Vitro Antibacterial Evaluation and In Silico ADMET Predictions

Abstract

Emerging multi-drug resistance (MDR) bacteria are alarming the medicinal chemistry community to establish a new class of antimicrobials with high selectivity, less toxicity, and a new mode of action. Therefore, a new series of chalcone-morpholine hybrids (6a–p) were synthesized using copper(I)-catalyzed Huisgen 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition to link the above two pharmacophores with the 1,2,3-triazole ring. Antibacterial potentials of all the synthesized compounds were studied against two Gram-positive (Bacillus subtilis and Staphylococcus aureus), and three Gram-negative (Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas putida, and Klebsiella pneumonia) bacterial strains. Among the tested series of compounds, 6a, 6c, and 6m against all the bacterial strains, 6e against both the Gram-positive bacteria, and 6h against all the Gram-negative bacteria were found to exhibit broad-spectrum activity compared with the standard Ampicillin. Furthermore, in silico ADME profiles were also predicted to set effective lead candidates for effective antibacterial agents.