Abstract
The increasing threat of antimicrobial resistance to all currently available therapeutic agents has urged the development of novel antimicrobials. In this context, a series of new benzoylthiourea derivatives substituted with one or more fluorine atoms and with the trifluoromethyl group have been tested, synthesized, and characterized by IR, NMR, CHNS and crystal X-ray diffraction. The molecular docking has provided information regarding the binding affinity and the orientation of the new compounds to Escherichia coli DNA gyrase B. The docking score predicted the antimicrobial activity of the studied compounds, especially against E. coli, which was further demonstrated experimentally against planktonic and biofilm embedded bacterial and fungal cells. The compounds bearing one fluorine atom on the phenyl ring have shown the best antibacterial effect, while those with three fluorine atoms exhibited the most intensive antifungal activity. All tested compounds exhibited antibiofilm activity, correlated with the trifluoromethyl substituent, most favorable in para position.
Highlights
IntroductionThiourea derivatives have received considerable attention owing to their effective biological activities, including the antibacterial [1,2,3,4,5,6], antitubercular [7,8], antimalarial [9,10,11], antileishmanial [12], antifungal [13,14,15,16], or antiviral effects [17,18,19,20,21,22,23]
The new compounds, 5a–g, were obtained with good yields using the synthesis route presented in Scheme 1
The best antibacterial activity was recorded for the compounds bearing one fluorine atom, while the antifungal effect was favored by the isomeric substitution with three fluorine atoms
Summary
Thiourea derivatives have received considerable attention owing to their effective biological activities, including the antibacterial [1,2,3,4,5,6], antitubercular [7,8], antimalarial [9,10,11], antileishmanial [12], antifungal [13,14,15,16], or antiviral effects [17,18,19,20,21,22,23]. Thiourea substitution in anacardic acids’ C-8 alkyl chain provided anti-Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Staphylococcus aureus, and Streptococcus pyogenes activity. 2-methoxy-6-{8-{3-[3-(trifluoromethyl)phenyl]thioureido}octyl}benzoate exhibited a biological activity similar to the standard antibiotic ampicillin [24]. P-(3-trifluoromethyl-5substituted-pyrazol-1-yl)benzenesulfonylthiourea derivatives have been less effective than ampicillin and griseofulvin against S. aureus, E. coli, Aspergillus niger and Candida albicans [25]. Thereby, the (E)-N-[4-(benzamidomethylenamino)phenylcarbamothioyl]benzamide (E)-N-[4-(benzamidomethylenamino)phenylcarbamothioyl]benzamide exhibited a good antibacterial exhibited a good antibacterial activity [4]
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