A facile three-component [3+2]-cycloaddition for the regioselective synthesis of highly functionalised dispiropyrrolidines acting as antimycobacterial agents.

A series of fourteen dispiropyrrolidines were synthesized using [3+2]-cycloaddition reactions and were screened for their antimycobacterial activity against Mycobacterium tuberculosis H(37)Rv in HTS (High Throughput Screen). Most of the compounds showed moderate to good activity with MIC of less than 20 µM. Compound 4'-(4-bromophenyl)-1'-methyldispiro[acenaphthylene-1,2'-pyrrolidine-3',2″-indane]-2,1″(1H)-dione (4c) was found to be the most active with MIC of 12.50 µM.