Synthesis, characterization, quantum chemical modelling, molecular docking, in silico and in vitro assessment of 3-(2-bromo-5-fluorophenyl))-1-(thiophen-2-yl)prop-2-en-1-one

Abstract

α,β-unsaturated carbonyl compounds have extensive applications in various fields, such as organic, inorganic, analytical, and biological. In the modern era, they offer excellent pharmacological application prospects and find widespread use in the pharmaceutical industry. The current study revealed the synthesis and characterization of a novel 3-(2-bromo-5-fluorophenyl)-1-(thiophen-2-yl) prop-2-en-1-one (CY3). In vitro their antimicrobial (Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Klebsiella pneumonia, Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, and Acinetobacter baumannii), antifungal ( Candida parapsilosis, Candida tropicalis, and Candida albicans), cytotoxicity (VERO and Hep-G2 cells), in silico, and molecular docking analysis were also performed. The in-silico analysis evaluated the drug-likeness properties of the compound CY3 using various filtering rules, including Lipinski’s, Ghose filter, Veber, Egan, Muegge, and Medicinal Chemistry alerts such as Pan Assay Interference Structures (PAINS), Brenk, and Lead-likeness. Then, molecular docking studies performed using the AutoDock (AD4), Vina, and iGEMDOCK tools to determine the mechanism by which the CY3 compound interact with the bacterial strains. Here, five different receptors were selected, such as DNA gyrase, glucose 6-phosphate synthase (GlmS), dihydrofolate reductase (DHFR), dehydrosqualene synthase (DHSS), and undecaprenyl pyrophosphate synthase (UDPPS), for molecular docking analysis. The CY3 compound showed a good binding affinity with the two target proteins, DHFR and DHSS, respectively, with maximum binding energies of about − 7.07 and − 7.05 kcal/mol. The synthesized CY3 compound exhibited moderate antibacterial activity with a MIC value > 100 µg/mL against all five bacterial strains and moderate antifungal activity with a MIC value > 50 µg/mL against all three fungal strains. Drug-likeness analyses also support their favourable bioavailability.