Ciprofloxacin-1,2,3-triazole-isatin hybrids tethered via amide: Design, synthesis, and in vitro anti-mycobacterial activity evaluation

A Comprehensive Review of the Diverse Spectrum Activity of 1,2,3-Triazole-linked Isatin Hybrids

Heterocyclic compounds containing 1,2,3-triazole and isatin as core structures have emerged as promising drug candidates due to their diverse biological activities such as anti-cancer, antifungal, antimicrobial, antitumor, anti-epileptic, antiviral, and more. The presence of 1,2,3-triazoles and isatin heterocycles in these hybrids, both individually known for their medicinal significance, has increasingly piqued the interest of drug discovery researchers, as they seek to delve deeper into their extensive pharmacological potential for enhancing therapeutic efficacy. Moreover, these hybrid compounds are synthetically accessible using readily available materials. Therefore, there is a pressing need to provide a comprehensive overview of the existing knowledge in this field, offering valuable insights to readers and paving the way for the discovery of novel 1,2,3-triazole-linked isatin hybrids with therapeutic potential.

Design and synthesis of benzo[b]thiophene-based hybrids as novel antitubercular agents against MDR/XDR Mycobacterium tuberculosis

In an effort to support the global fight against tuberculosis (TB), which is widely recognized as the most lethal infectious disease worldwide, we present the design and synthesis of new benzo[b]thiophene-based hybrids as promising candidates for the management of multidrug-resistant (MDR)/extensively drug-resistant (XDR) Mycobacterium tuberculosis. The isatin motif was incorporated into the target hybrids as it represents a privileged scaffold in antitubercular drug discovery. Since lipophilicity plays a pivotal role in the anti-TB agents' activity, the lipophilicity of the target hybrids was manipulated via the development of two series of N-1 methyl and N-1 benzyl substituted isatins (6a-h and 9a-h, respectively). Screening of the target hybrids was first performed against drug-sensitive M. tuberculosis (ATCC 25177). The structure-activity relationship outputs highlighted that incorporation of 3-unsubstituted benzo[b]thiophene and 5-methoxy isatin moieties was favorable for the antimycobacterial activity. Thereafter, the most potent molecules (6b-h, 9c-e, and 9h) were evaluated against the resistant strains MDR-TB (ATCC 35822) as well as against XDR-TB (RCMB 2674) where they displayed promising activity. To evaluate the safety of the target hybrids, an sulforhodamine B assay was conducted to determine their possible cytotoxic effects on VERO cells.

Design, Synthesis, and Antimicrobial Activity Evaluation of Ciprofloxacin-Indole Hybrids

With the overuse and misuse of antimicrobial drugs, antibacterial resistance is becoming a critical global health problem. New antibacterial agents are effective measures for overcoming the crisis of drug resistance. In this paper, a novel set of ciprofloxacin-indole/acetophenone hybrids was designed, synthesized, and structurally elucidated with the help of NMR and high-resolution mass spectrometry. The in vitro antibacterial activities of these hybrids against gram-positive and gram-negative pathogens, including four multidrug-resistant clinical isolates, were evaluated and compared with those of the parent drug ciprofloxacin (CIP). All the target compounds (MIC = 0.0625-32 μg/mL) exhibited excellent inhibitory activity against the strains tested. Among them, 3a (MIC = 0.25-8 μg/mL) showed comparable or slightly less potent activity than CIP. The most active hybrid, 8b (MIC = 0.0626-1 μg/mL), showed equal or higher activity than CIP. Moreover, compound 8b showed superior bactericidal capability to CIP, with undetectably low resistance frequencies. Furthermore, molecular docking studies conducted showed that 8b and CIP had a similar binding mode to DNA gyrase (Staphylocouccus aureus). Thus, hybrids 3a and 8b could act as a platform for further investigations.

N-Acylated Ciprofloxacin Derivatives: Synthesis and In Vitro Biological Evaluation as Antibacterial and Anticancer Agents

A novel series of N-acylated ciprofloxacin (CP) conjugates 1-21 were synthesized and screened as potential antimicrobial agents. Conjugates 1 and 2 were 1.25-10-fold more potent than CP toward all Staphylococci (minimal inhibitory concentration 0.05-0.4 μg/mL). Most of the chloro- (3-7), bromo- (8-11), and CF₃-alkanoyl (14-16) derivatives expressed higher or comparable activity to CP against selected Gram-positive strains. A few CP analogues (5, 10, and 11) were also more effective toward the chosen clinical Gram-negative rods. Conjugates 5, 10, and 11 considerably influenced the phases of the bacterial growth cycle over 18 h. Additionally, compounds 2, 4-7, 9-12, and 21 exerted stronger tuberculostatic action against three Mycobacterium tuberculosis isolates than the first-line antitubercular drugs. Amides 1, 2, 5, 6, 10, and 11 targeted gyrase and topoisomerase IV at 2.7-10.0 μg/mL, which suggests a mechanism of antibacterial action related to CP. These findings were confirmed by molecular docking studies. In addition, compounds 3 and 15 showed high antiproliferative activities against prostate PC3 cells (IC₅₀ 2.02-4.8 μM), up to 6.5-2.75 stronger than cisplatin. They almost completely reduced the growth and proliferation rates in these cells, without a cytotoxic action against normal HaCaT cell lines. Furthermore, derivatives 3 and 21 induced apoptosis/necrosis in PC3 cells, probably by increasing the intracellular ROS amount, as well as they diminished the IL-6 level in tumor cells.

Review on Isatin- A Remarkable Scaffold for Designing Potential Therapeutic Complexes and Its Macrocyclic Complexes with Transition Metals

Role of synthetic coordination chemistry in pharmaceutical science is expeditiously increased due to its sundry relevances in this field. The present review endows the synthesized macrocyclic complexes of transition metal ions containing isatin and its derivatives as ligand precursors, their characterization and their copious pharmaceutical applications. Isatin (1H-Indole-2,3-dione) is a protean compound (presence of lactam and keto moiety permits to change its molecular framework) that can be obtained from marine animals, plants, and is also found in mammalian tissues and in human fluids as a metabolite of amino acids. It can be used for the synthesis of miscellaneous organic and inorganic complexes and for designing of drugs since it has remarkable utility in pharmaceutical industry due to its wide range of biological and pharmacological activities, for instance anti-microbial, anti-HIV, anti-tubercular, anti-cancer, anti-viral, anti-oxidant, anti-inflammatory, anti-angiogenic, analgesic activity, anti-Parkinson's disease, anti-convulsant etc. This review provides extensive information about the latest methods for the synthesis of isatin or its substituted derivatives based macrocyclic complexes of transition metals and their plentiful applications in medicinal chemistry.

Graphical Abstract

Emerging impact of triazoles as anti-tubercular agent

Tuberculosis, a disease of poverty is a communicable infection with a reasonably high mortality rate worldwide. 10 Million new cases of TB were reported with approx 1.4 million deaths in the year 2019. Due to the growing number of drug-sensitive and drug-resistant tuberculosis cases, there is a vital need to develop new and effective candidates useful to combat this deadly disease. Despite tremendous efforts to identify a mechanism-based novel antitubercular agent, only a few have entered into clinical trials in the last six decades. In recent years, triazoles have been well explored as the most valuable scaffolds in drug discovery and development. Triazole framework possesses favorable properties like hydrogen bonding, moderate dipole moment, enhanced water solubility, and also the ability to bind effectively with biomolecular targets of M. tuberculosis and therefore this scaffold displayed excellent potency against TB. This review is an endeavor to summarize an up-to-date innovation of triazole-appended hybrids during the last 10 years having potential in vitro and in vivo antitubercular activity with structure activity relationship analysis. This review may help medicinal chemists to explore the triazole scaffolds for the rational design of potent drug candidates having better efficacy, improved selectivity and minimal toxicity so that these hybrid NCEs can effectively be explored as potential lead to fight against M. tuberculosis.

A Mini Review on Isatin, an Anticancer Scaffold with Potential Activities against Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs)

Isatin, chemically an indole-1H-2,3-dione, is recognised as one of the most attractive therapeutic fragments in drug design and development. The template has turned out to be exceptionally useful for developing new anticancer scaffolds, as evidenced by the increasing number of isatin-based molecules which are either in clinical use or in trials. Apart from its promising antiproliferative properties, isatin has shown potential in treating Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs) not only as a parent core, but also by attenuating the activities of various pharmacophores. The objective of this mini-review is to keep readers up to date on the latest developments in the biological potential of isatin-based scaffolds, targeting cancer and NTDs such as tuberculosis, malaria, and microbial infections.

Fluoroquinolones' Biological Activities against Laboratory Microbes and Cancer Cell Lines

Development of novel derivatives to rein in and fight bacteria have never been more demanding, as microbial resistance strains are alarmingly increasing. A multitude of new fluoroquinolones derivatives with an improved spectrum of activity and/or enhanced pharmacokinetics parameters have been widely explored. Reporting novel antimicrobial agents entails comparing their potential activity to their parent drugs; hence, parent fluoroquinolones have been used in research as positive controls. Given that these fluoroquinolones possess variable activities according to their generation, it is necessary to include parent compounds and market available antibiotics of the same class when investigating antimicrobial activity. Herein, we provide a detailed guide on the in vitro biological activity of fluoroquinolones based on experimental results published in the last years. This work permits researchers to compare and analyze potential fluoroquinolones as positive control agents and to evaluate changes occurring in their activities. More importantly, the selection of fluoroquinolones as positive controls by medicinal chemists when investigating novel FQs analogs must be correlated to the laboratory pathogen inquest for reliable results.

Therapeutic Outcomes of Isatin and Its Derivatives against Multiple Diseases: Recent Developments in Drug Discovery

Isatin (1H indole 2, 3-dione) is a heterocyclic, endogenous lead molecule recognized in humans and different plants. The isatin nucleus and its derivatives are owed the attention of researchers due to their diverse pharmacological activities such as anticancer, anti-TB, antifungal, antimicrobial, antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, anticonvulsant, anti-HIV, and so on. Many research chemists take advantage of the gentle structure of isatins, such as NH at position 1 and carbonyl functions at positions 2 and 3, for designing biologically active analogues via different approaches. Literature surveys based on reported preclinical, clinical, and patented details confirm the multitarget profile of isatin analogues and thus their importance in the field of medicinal chemistry as a potent chemotherapeutic agent. This review represents the recent development of isatin analogues possessing potential pharmacological action in the years 2016–2020. The structure–activity relationship is also discussed to provide a pharmacophoric pattern that may contribute in the future to the design and synthesis of potent and less toxic therapeutics.

Synthesis and biological evaluation of isatin oxime ether-tethered aryl 1H-1,2,3-triazoles as inhibitors of Mycobacterium tuberculosis

A series of isatin oxime ether-tethered aryl 1H-1,2,3-triazole hybrids were synthesized and screened for their in vitro antitubercular activity against the M. tuberculosis H37Rv strain.

Development of novel isatin-nicotinohydrazide hybrids with potent activity against susceptible/resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis and bronchitis causing-bacteria

Joining the global fight against Tuberculosis, the world's most deadly infectious disease, herein we present the design and synthesis of novel isatin-nicotinohydrazide hybrids (5a-m and 9a-c) as promising anti-tubercular and antibacterial agents. The anti-tubercular activity of the target hybrids was evaluated against drug-susceptible M. tuberculosis strain (ATCC 27294) where hybrids 5d, 5g and 5h were found to be as potent as INH with MIC = 0.24 µg/mL, also the activity was evaluated against Isoniazid/Streptomycin resistant M. tuberculosis (ATCC 35823) where compounds 5g and 5h showed excellent activity (MIC = 3.9 µg/mL). Moreover, the target hybrids were examined against six bronchitis causing-bacteria. Most derivatives exhibited excellent antibacterial activity. K. pneumonia emerged as the most sensitive strain with MIC range: 0.49-7.81 µg/mL. Furthermore, a molecular docking study has proposed DprE1 as a probable enzymatic target for herein reported isatin-nicotinohydrazide hybrids, and explored the binding interactions within the vicinity of DprE1 active site.

Triazole-containing hybrids with anti-Mycobacterium tuberculosis potential - Part I: 1,2,3-Triazole

Tuberculosis regimens currently applied in clinical practice require months of multidrug therapy, which imposes a major challenge of patient compliance and drug resistance development. Moreover, because of the increasing emergence of hard-to-treat tuberculosis, this disease continues to be a significant threat to the human population. 1,2,3-triazole as a privileged structure has been widely used as an effective template for drug discovery, and 1,2,3-triazole-containing hybrids that can simultaneously act on dual or multiple targets in Mycobacterium tuberculosis have the potential to circumvent drug resistance, enhance efficacy, reduce side effects and improve pharmacokinetic as well as pharmacodynamic profiles. Thus, 1,2,3-triazole-containing hybrids are useful scaffolds for the development of antitubercular agents. This review aims to highlight recent advances of 1,2,3-triazole-containing hybrids with potential activity against various forms of M. tuberculosis, covering articles published between 2015 and 2020. The structure-activity relationship and the mechanism of action are also discussed to facilitate further rational design of more effective drug candidates.

Synthesis, inhibition properties against xanthine oxidase and molecular docking studies of dimethyl N-benzyl-1H-1,2,3-triazole-4,5-dicarboxylate and (N-benzyl-1H-1,2,3-triazole-4,5-diyl)dimethanol derivatives

This study focused on synthesis various dimethyl N-benzyl-1H-1,2,3-triazole-4,5-dicarboxylate and (N-benzyl-1H-1,2,3-triazole-4,5-diyl)dimethanol derivatives under the conditions of green chemistry without the use of solvent and catalysts. Their inhibition properties were also investigated on xanthine oxidase (XO) activity. All dimethanol and dicarboxylate derivatives exhibited significant inhibition activities with IC₅₀ values ranging from 0.71 to 2.25 μM. Especially, (1-(3-bromobenzyl)-1H-1,2,3-triazole-4,5-diyl)dimethanol (5c) and dimethyl 1-(4-chlorobenzyl)-1H-1,2,3-triazole-4,5-dicarboxylate (6 g) compounds were found to be the most promising derivatives on the XO enzyme inhibition with IC₅₀ values 0.71 and 0.73 μM, respectively. Moreover, the double docking procedure was to evaluate compound modes of inhibition and their interactions with the protein (XO) at atomic level. Surprisingly, the docking results showed a good correlation with IC₅₀ [correlation coefficient (R² = 0.7455)]. Also, the docking results exhibited that the 5c, 6f and 6 g have lowest docking scores -4.790, -4.755, and -4.730, respectively. These data were in agreement with the IC₅₀ values. These results give promising beginning stages to assist in the improvement of novel and powerful inhibitor against XO.

Anti-Tubercular Properties of 4-Amino-5-(4-Fluoro-3- Phenoxyphenyl)-4H-1,2,4-Triazole-3-Thiol and Its Schiff Bases: Computational Input and Molecular Dynamics

In the present investigation, the parent compound 4-amino-5-(4-fluoro-3-phenoxyphenyl)-4H-1,2,4-triazole-3-thiol (1) and its Schiff bases 2, 3, and 4 were subjected to whole-cell anti-TB against H37Rv and multi-drug-resistant (MDR) strains of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB) by resazurin microtiter assay (REMA) plate method. Test compound 1 exhibited promising anti-TB activity against H37Rv and MDR strains of MTB at 5.5 µg/mL and 11 µg/mL, respectively. An attempt to identify the suitable molecular target for compound 1 was performed using a set of triazole thiol cellular targets, including β-ketoacyl carrier protein synthase III (FABH), β-ketoacyl ACP synthase I (KasA), CYP121, dihydrofolate reductase, enoyl-acyl carrier protein reductase, and N-acetylglucosamine-1-phosphate uridyltransferase. MTB β-ketoacyl ACP synthase I (KasA) was identified as the cellular target for the promising anti-TB parent compound 1 via docking and molecular dynamics simulation. MM(GB/PB)SA binding free energy calculation revealed stronger binding of compound 1 compared with KasA standard inhibitor thiolactomycin (TLM). The inhibitory mechanism of test compound 1 involves the formation of hydrogen bonding with the catalytic histidine residues, and it also impedes access of fatty-acid substrates to the active site through interference with α5–α6 helix movement. Test compound 1-specific structural changes at the ALA274–ALA281 loop might be the contributing factor underlying the stronger anti-TB effect of compound 1 when compared with TLM, as it tends to adopt a closed conformation for the access of malonyl substrate to its binding site.