Antibacterial activity of some 1,2,3,4-tetrasubstituted pyrrole derivatives and molecular docking studies

Abstract

Pyrrole compounds are important classes of heterocycle compounds in the search for effective agents against multidrug-resistant bacterial infections. With an approach to reduce the growing bacterial resistance and to discover more active antibacterial agents with fewer side effects, the previously synthesized 1,2,3,4-tetrasubstituted pyrrole derivatives were screened for their in vitro antibacterial activity by disc diffusion method against some gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria, for the first time. The results indicated that compounds 4, 11, and 12 showed promising antibacterial activity against gram-positive S. aureus and B. cereus bacteria equal or more than standard as tetracycline. Molecular docking studies were employed both to explain the activity results of the more active compounds at the level of protein-ligand interactions and to compare the interactions of these compounds with the interactions of tetracycline. The relationship between structure and antibacterial activity was also discussed.