Synthesis of new set of imidazo[1,2-a]pyridine-schiff bases derivatives as potential antimicrobial agents: Experimental and theoretical approaches

Abstract

Multidrug resistance in microbial infections necessitates the discovery of new drugs with enhanced efficacy. In this context, a novel series of imidazopyridine Schiff bases derivatives were synthesized to address this pressing need. The antimicrobial activities of these compounds were evaluated. The synthesis involved the condensation reaction between various primary amines and imidazopyridine carbaldehyde derivates, resulting in high-yield products without requiring additional purification steps. The synthesized compounds were characterized by IR, 1H-NMR, 13C-NMR spectroscopic methods, and GC-MS hyphenated techniques. All the new compounds were evaluated for their in vitro antifungal and antibacterial activities using the disk diffusion method. Notably, the majority of the compounds exhibited promising antimicrobial activity against Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa as bacteria and Candida albicans, Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Aspergillus brasiliensis as fungus. To gain further insights into the mode of action, computational docking studies were performed to understand the interactions between these compounds and their target proteins. Additionally, density functional theory (DFT) calculations were performed to provide insight into the compounds electronic structure and reactivity. The findings of this work provide valuable information regarding the synthesis, characterization, antibacterial activity, and molecular properties of these novel imidazopyridine compounds.