Design and synthesis of chitin synthase inhibitors as potent fungicides

Abstract

Chitin is a structural component of fungal cell walls but is absent in vertebrates, mammals, and humans. Chitin synthase is thus an attractive molecular target for developing fungicides. Based on the structure of its donor substrate, UDP-N-acetyl-glucosamine, as well as the modelled structure of the bacterial chitin synthase NodC, we designed a novel scaffold which was then further optimized into a series of chitin synthase inhibitors. The most potent inhibitor, compound 13, exhibited high chitin synthase inhibitory activity with an IC50 value of 64.5μmol/L. All of the inhibitors exhibited antifungal activities against the growth of agriculturally-destructive fungi, Fusarium graminearum, Botrytis cinerea, and Colletotrichum lagenarium. This work presents a new scaffold which can be used for the development of novel fungicides.