Triazole-benzenesulfonamide hybrids: Synthesis, biological evaluation, and molecular docking study as non-toxic antimicrobial and antioxidant agents

Abstract

We have synthesized a library of twenty novel heterocyclic compounds having benzenesulfonamide and triazole moieties in their skeleton. Synthesized target compounds were tested for their inhibition potential against the growth of seven bacterial and one fungal pathogens. Free radical scavenging activities were also determined for the synthesized series of compounds using DPPH method. Furthermore, cytotoxicity studies of the target compounds were performed against mouse fibroblast animal cell lines and plant seed germination cell lines. To identify the binding modes, molecular docking of the most active antibacterial compound 3e and the most active antifungal compound 3g was performed in the active sites of target enzymes. All the tested compounds were found to be good antibacterial (MIC values = 4.9 – 37.8 µM) and antifungal (MIC values = 5.4 – 37.8 µM) agents. Results of antioxidant study showed that all the tested compounds are moderate to excellent free radical scavengers (% RSA values = 75.45 – 95.34). Furthermore, all were found safe against both the tested cell lines during cytotoxicity studies.