Abstract
The antibacterial activity of imidazole and imidazolium salts is highly dependent upon their lipophilicity, which can be tuned through the introduction of different hydrophobic substituents on the nitrogen atoms of the imidazole or imidazolium ring of the molecule. Taking this into consideration, we have synthesized and characterized a series of imidazole and imidazolium salts derived from L-valine and L-phenylalanine containing different hydrophobic groups and tested their antibacterial activity against two model bacterial strains, Gram-negative E. coli and Gram-positive B. subtilis. Importantly, the results demonstrate that the minimum bactericidal concentration (MBC) of these derivatives can be tuned to fall close to the cytotoxicity values in eukaryotic cell lines. The MBC value of one of these compounds toward B. subtilis was found to be lower than the IC50 cytotoxicity value for the control cell line, HEK-293. Furthermore, the aggregation behavior of these compounds has been studied in pure water, in cell culture media, and in mixtures thereof, in order to determine if the compounds formed self-assembled aggregates at their bioactive concentrations with the aim of determining whether the monomeric species were in fact responsible for the observed antibacterial activity. Overall, these results indicate that imidazole and imidazolium compounds derived from L-valine and L-phenylalanine—with different alkyl lengths in the amide substitution—can serve as potent antibacterial agents with low cytotoxicity to human cell lines.
Highlights
Aromatic heterocycles, the imidazole ring, have been used in the last decades as structural skeletons to obtain different types of bioactive compounds with antibacterial, antifungal, anticancer, antiviral, antidiabetic, and other properties [1,2,3,4]
A series of novel imidazole and imidazolium salts derived from L-valine and L-phenylalanine containing different hydrophobic groups have been synthesized and their antibacterial activity studied against E. coli and B. subtilis
The results demonstrate that an optimum lipophilicity of the alkyl chain and the amino acid side chain is needed to achieve antibacterial activity
Summary
The imidazole ring, have been used in the last decades as structural skeletons to obtain different types of bioactive compounds with antibacterial, antifungal, anticancer, antiviral, antidiabetic, and other properties [1,2,3,4]. Most of the bioactive agents sold for pharmaceutical or food industries are salts [10,11], and in this context, ionic liquids (ILs) represent a promising class of drug candidates whose physicochemical and pharmaceutical properties can be tuned [12,13,14,15,16,17]. In this regard, the imidazolium skeleton can be transformed into ionic liquids with promisingly potent pharmacological properties [18,19,20,21].
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
