Salicylanilide carbamates: Promising antibacterial agents with high in vitro activity against methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA).

A series of twenty-one salicylanilide N-alkylcarbamates was assessed for novel antibacterial characteristics against three clinical isolates of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and S. aureus ATCC 29213 as the reference and quality control strain. The minimum inhibitory concentration was determined by the broth dilution micro-method with subsequent subcultivation of aliquots to assess minimum bactericidal concentration. The bactericidal kinetics was established by time-kill assay. Ampicillin, ciprofloxacin and vancomycin were used as reference antibacterial drugs. All the tested compounds exhibited highly potent anti-MRSA activity (⩽ 0.008-4 µg/mL) comparable or up to 250× higher than that of vancomycin, the standard in the treatment of serious MRSA infections. 4-Chloro-2-(3,4-dichlorophenylcarbamoyl)phenyl butylcarbamate and 4-chloro-2-(3,4-dichlorophenylcarbamoyl)phenyl ethylcarbamate were the most active compounds. In most cases, compounds provided reliable bacteriostatic activity, except for 4-chloro-2-(4-chlorophenylcarbamoyl)phenyl decylcarbamate exhibiting bactericidal effect at 8h (for clinical isolate of MRSA 63718) and at 24h (for clinical isolates of MRSA SA 630 and MRSA SA 3202) at 4× MIC. Structure-activity relationships are discussed.

Photosynthesis-Inhibiting efficiency of 4-chloro-2-(chlorophenylcarbamoyl)phenyl alkylcarbamates.

A series of photosynthetic electron transport (PET) inhibitors from the group of salicylanilide alkylcarbamates was investigated. The compounds were analyzed using RP-HPLC to determine lipophilicity, and their PET inhibition was determined in spinach (Spinacia oleracea L.) chloroplasts. The site of action of the studied compounds is situated at the donor site of photosystem 2 (PS 2). Compounds substituted by chlorine in C'-3 and C'-4 of the aniline ring and the optimal length of the alkyl chain pentyl-heptyl in the carbamate moiety provided the most active PET inhibitors (IC(50) inhibition <10 µmol/L). Disubstitution in C'-3,4 by chlorine caused significant PET inhibiting activity decrease. Nevertheless, for all three series of C'-3, C'-4, C'-3,4 compounds, the dependence of PET activity on lipophilicity showed to be quasi-parabolic.

New antituberculotics originated from salicylanilides with promising in vitro activity against atypical mycobacterial strains.

A new series of 30 N-protected amino acid esters were prepared as a part of ongoing search for new anti-tuberculosis active salicylanilides. The esters possess high in vitro activity against Mycobacterium tuberculosis, Mycobacterium avium, and two strains of Mycobacterium kansasii, where one is an isolate from the patient, with MIC in the range 1-32 micromol/L for all tested strains. The prepared esters can be considered as prodrugs with better bio-availability and as more efficient transport forms through the mycobacterial cell membranes due to the higher lipophilicity. The experimental and calculated lipophilicity, stability, antituberculotic activity, cytotoxicity as well as the quantitative structure-activity relationships (QSARs) explored by the Intelligent Problem Solver (IPS) in Trajan Neural Network Simulator 6.0 are presented.

Salicylanilide esters of N-protected amino acids as novel antimicrobial agents.

A series of novel, highly antimicrobial salicylanilide esters of N-protected amino acids were synthesized and characterized. Their in vitro antimicrobial activity against eight fungal strains and Mycobacterium tuberculosis was determined. The compounds had the highest level of activity against Aspergillus fumigatus, Absidia corymbifera and Trichophyton mentagrophytes, and these levels were higher than that of the standard drug fluconazole. In addition, three compounds showed interesting antituberculosis activity, with inhibition ranging from 89% to 99%. (S)-4-Chloro-2-(4-trifluoromethylphenylcarbamoyl)-phenyl 2-benzyloxy-carbonylamino-propionate had the highest level of both antifungal and antimycobacterial activity. The structure-activity relationships of the new compounds are discussed.