Synthesis, Molecular Docking, and DFT Studies of Some New 2,5-Disubstituted Benzoxazoles as Potential Antimicrobial and Cytotoxic Agents

Quantum mechanical approaches and molecular docking studies of platinum based anticancer drugs Satraplatin and picoplatin structures

The structures of the anticancer drug compounds satraplatin and picoplatin are optimized, and theoretical studies done by Density Functional Theory (DFT) to investigate the optical properties, global chemical descriptors, and band gap were calculated using the obtained Frontier molecular orbital values. The theoretically obtained data of the platinum drugs found to possess low energy gap values and low chemical hardness with high chemical softness describe that the compounds are chemically stable and most reactive. Using the molecular docking process, the binding mechanisms of the satraplatin and picoplatin drugs with cancer DNA structures were studied, and the results were analyzed. For the two drug compounds examined, satraplatin has shown the least binding energies at -5.06kcal/mol compared to picoplatin at -2.69 kcal/mol, and conformations with root mean square deviation (RMSD) values by DNA structures are less than or equal to 2.00 Å in targeting the specific DNA target residues of the reference bound ligand. The grid box was generated using the selective grid parameters using the Autodock 4.2 program. The drug molecules found to have the least binding energy value with the lowest inhibition constant implicate the good docking score towards the DNA structure by the docking studies. DFT studies also show good structural properties and chemical reactivity. From the obtained results, satraplatin and picoplatin were found to have good chemical descriptors and good binding affinity and are best suited for biological molecular targets.

Synthesis, characterization, and in vitro antibacterial activity of some new pyridinone and pyrazole derivatives with some in silico ADME and molecular modeling study

A new series of pyridine-2-one and pyrazole derivatives were designed and synthesized based on cyanoacrylamide derivatives containing 2,4-dichlro aniline and 6-methyl 2-amino pyridine as an aryl group. Condensation of cyanoacrylamide derivatives 3a–d with different active methylene (malononitrile, ethyl cyanoacetate cyanoacetamide, and ethyl acetoacetate) in the presence of piperidine as basic catalyst afforded the corresponding pyridinone derivatives 4a–c, 5, 9, and 13. Furthermore, the reaction of cyanoacrylamide derivatives 3a–d with bi-nucleophile as hydrazine hydrate and thiosemicarbazide afforded the corresponding pyrazole derivatives 14a,b and 16. The newly designed derivatives were confirmed and established based on the elemental analysis and spectra data (IR, 1H NMR, 13C NMR, and mass). The in vitro antibacterial activity was evaluated against four bacterial strains with weak to good antibacterial activity. Moreover, the results indicated that the most active derivatives 3a, 4a, 4b, 9, and 16 might lead to antibacterial agents, especially against B. subtilis and P. vulgaris. The DFT calculations were performed to estimate its geometric structure and electronic properties. In addition, the most active pyridinone and pyrazole derivatives were further evaluated for in silico physicochemical, drug-likeness, and toxicity prediction. These derivatives obeyed all Lipinski’s and Veber’s rules without any violation and displayed non-immunotoxin, non-mutagenic, and non-cytotoxic. Molecular docking simulation was performed inside the active site of Topoisomerase IV (PDB:3FV5). It displayed binding energy ranging from -14.97 kcal/mol to -18.86 kcal/mol with hydrogen bonding and arene–cation interaction. Therefore, these derivatives were suggested to be good antibacterial agents via topoisomerase IV inhibitor.

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Quantum mechanical, virtual screening, molecular docking, molecular dynamics, ADME and antimicrobial activity studies of some new indole-hydrazone derivatives as potent agents against E. faecalis

In this study, a new series of indole-5-carbaldehyde hydrazone derivative compounds were designed, synthesized, and their antimicrobial activities were determined by the microdilution method, and the in vitro cytotoxic effects on Beas-2b cell lines were investigated by MTT assay. When the activity results were examined, 5i12 showed promising activity against E. faecalis with MIC: 2 µg/mL compared to ampicillin, gentamicin, and vancomycin, although the antimicrobial activities of the indole derivatives were generally weaker than those of the standard drugs. Compounds showed no cytotoxic activity on the A549, MCF-7, and Beas-2b cell lines. Molecular docking studies were performed on 15 different proteins to understand the mechanism of 5i12's good antimicrobial action against E. faecalis, and it was concluded that the compounds interacted with FabH, not enough other protein structures. Molecular dynamics simulations were performed to investigate the protein-ligand stability of the most active compound against E. faecalis. The RMSD value of 5i12 varied between 0.02 and 0.16 nm during the MD simulation. The apoprotein peaked at 0.55 nm at the beginning of the simulation and stabilized below 0.5 nm. The theoretical ADME profiles of all compounds were calculated and found to comply with Lipinski and other limiting rules. In addition, some theoretical quantum parameters (HOMO-LUMO) of compounds, and both MEP analysis and geometric optimization analysis for 5i12 were calculated using the 6-311 G (d,p) base set and DFT/B3LYP theory, and the results were visualized. Communicated by Ramaswamy H. Sarma.

In Vitro Anti-Candida Activity and Action Mode of Benzoxazole Derivatives

A newly synthetized series of N-phenacyl derivatives of 2-mercaptobenzoxazole, including analogues of 5-bromo- and 5,7-dibromobenzoxazole, were screened against Candida strains and the action mechanism was evaluated. 2-(1,3-benzoxazol-2-ylsulfanyl)-1-(4-bromophenyl)ethanone (5d), 2-(1,3-benzoxazol-2-ylsulfanyl)-1-(2,3,4-trichloro-phenyl)ethanone (5i), 2-(1,3-benzoxazol-2-ylsulfanyl)-1-(2,4,6-trichlorophenyl)ethanone (5k) and 2-[(5-bromo-1,3-benzoxazol-2-yl)sulfanyl]-1-phenylethanone (6a) showed anti-C. albicans SC5314 activity, where 5d displayed MICT = 16 µg/mL (%R = 100) and a weak anti-proliferative activity against the clinical strains: C. albicans resistant to azoles (Itr and Flu) and C. glabrata. Derivatives 5k and 6a displayed MICP = 16 µg/mL and %R = 64.2 ± 10.6, %R = 88.0 ± 9.7, respectively, against the C. albicans isolate. Derivative 5i was the most active against C. glabrata (%R = 53.0 ± 3.5 at 16 µg/mL). Benzoxazoles displayed no MIC against C. glabrata. Benzoxazoles showed a pleiotropic action mode: (1) the total sterols content was perturbed; (2) 2-(1,3-benzoxazol-2-ylsulfanyl)-1-(3,4-dichlorophenyl)ethanol and 2-(1,3-benzoxazol-2-ylsulfanyl)-1-(2,3,4-trichlorophenyl)ethanol (8h-i) at the lowest fungistatic conc. inhibited the efflux of the Rho123 tracker during the membrane transport process; (3) mitochondrial respiration was affected/inhibited by the benzoxazoles: 2-(1,3-benzoxazol-2-ylsulfanyl)-1-(4-chlorophenyl)ethanol and 2-(1,3-benzoxazol-2-ylsulfanyl)-1-(4-bromophenyl)ethanol 8c-d and 8i. Benzoxazoles showed comparable activity to commercially available azoles due to (1) the interaction with exogenous ergosterol, (2) endogenous ergosterol synthesis blocking as well as (3) membrane permeabilizing properties typical of AmB. Benzoxazoles display a broad spectrum of anti-Candida activity and action mode towards the membrane without cross-resistance with AmB; furthermore, they are safe to mammals.

Design and synthesis of small molecular 2-aminobenzoxazoles as potential antifungal agents against phytopathogenic fungi

In order to discover novel antifungal agents, three series of simple 2-aminobenzoxazole derivatives were designed, synthesized and evaluated for their antifungal activities against eight phytopathogenic fungi. The in vitro antifungal results showed that most of the target compounds exhibited excellent and broad-spectrum antifungal activities to all the tested fungi. Particularly, the six compounds 3a, 3b, 3c, 3e, 3m and 3v displayed the most potent antifungal activity, with EC₅₀ value of 1.48–16.6 µg/mL, which were much superior to the positive control hymexazol. The in vivo study further confirmed that compounds 3a, 3c, 3e and 3m displayed good preventative effect against Botrytis cinerea at the concentration of 100 µg/mL. The structure–activity relationships research provides significant reference for the further structural optimization of 2-aminobenzoxazole as potential fungicides.

Molecular modeling, density functional theory, ADME prediction and antimicrobial activity studies of 2-(substituted)oxazolo[4,5-b]pyridine derivatives

Molecular docking, molecular dynamics, DFT, ADME prediction, and antimicrobial activity studies of some 2-(substituted)oxazolo[4,5-b]pyridine derivatives were carried out.