Design, synthesis and herbicidal activity of novel cyclohexanedione derivations containing pyrazole and pyridine groups as potential HPPD inhibitors.

4-Hydroxyphenylpyruvate dioxygenase (EC 1.13.11.27; HPPD) is one of the important target enzymes in the development of herbicides. To discover novel HPPD inhibitors with unique molecular, 39 cyclohexanedione derivations containing pyrazole and pyridine groups were designed and synthesized. The preliminary herbicidal activity test results showed that some compounds had obvious inhibitory effects on monocotyledon and dicotyledonous weeds. The herbicidal spectrums of the highly active compounds were further determined, and the compound G31 exhibited the best inhibitory rate over 90% against Plantago depressa Willd and Capsella bursa-pastoris at the dosages of 75.0 and 37.5 g ai/ha, which is comparable to the control herbicide mesotrione. Moreover, compound G31 showed excellent crop safety, with less than or equal to 10% injury rates to corn, sorghum, soybean and cotton at a dosage of 225 g ai/ha. Molecular docking and molecular dynamics simulation analysis revealed that the compound G31 could stably bind to Arabidopsis thaliana HPPD (AtHPPD). This study indicated that the compound G31 could be used as a lead molecular structure for the development of novel HPPD inhibitors, which provided an idea for the design of new herbicides with unique molecular scaffold.

In vivo antiviral activity and disassembly mechanism of novel 1-phenyl-5-amine-4-pyrazole thioether derivatives against Tobacco mosaic virus.

A series of novel 1-phenyl-5-amine-4-pyrazole thioether derivatives containing a 1,3,4-oxadiazole moiety was designed and synthesised. In vivo antiviral bioassay results showed that most of the target compounds exhibited excellent inactivation activity against Tobacco mosaic virus (TMV). The EC50 values of the inactivation activities for T2, T7, T9, T24, T25 and T27 were 15.7, 15.7, 15.5, 11.9, 12.5 and 16.5 µg/mL, respectively, which were remarkably superior over that of the commercialised antiviral agent ningnanmycin (40.3 µg/mL). Morphological study using AFM and TEM of TMV treated with T24 showed that T24 could significantly shorten the polymerization length of TMV particles and formed a distinct break on the rod-shaped TMV. Investigations for virus infection efficiency on tobacco leaves demonstrated that infectivity of virion had been reduced obviously upon T24 treatment. Subsequently, a strong interaction between T24 and TMV-CP (Kd = 3.8 µM, score 6.11) was observed through MST experiments. Molecular docking study further revealed that target compounds interact with amino acid residue Glu50 in TMV CP, causing disassembly of virion, shorting the length of the virion and reducing the infectivity of virion, and resulting in high inactivating activity of target compounds. This study provides a new insight for discovery of antiviral compounds through a new action mechanism with a new binding site.

Design, Synthesis, Antifungal Activity, and Action Mechanism of Pyrazole-4-carboxamide Derivatives Containing Oxime Ether Active Fragment As Succinate Dehydrogenase Inhibitors.

The dearomatization at the hydrophobic tail of the boscalid was carried out to construct a series of novel pyrazole-4-carboxamide derivatives containing an oxime ether fragment. By using fungicide-likeness analyses and virtual screening, 24 target compounds with theoretical strong inhibitory effects against fungal succinate dehydrogenase (SDH) were designed and synthesized. Antifungal bioassays showed that the target compound E1 could selectively inhibit the in vitro growth of R. solani, with the EC50 value of 1.1 µg/mL that was superior to that of the agricultural fungicide boscalid (2.2 µg/mL). The observations by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) demonstrated that E1 could reduce mycelial density and significantly increase the mitochondrial number in mycelia cytoplasm, which was similar to the phenomenon treated with boscalid. Enzyme activity assay showed that the E1 had the significant inhibitory effect against the SDH from R. solani, with the IC50 value of 3.3 µM that was superior to that of boscalid (7.9 µM). The mode of action of the target compound E1 with SDH was further analyzed by molecular docking and molecular dynamics simulation studies. Among them, the number of hydrogen bonds was significantly more in the SDH-E1 complex than that in the SDH-boscalid complex. This research on the dearomatization strategy of the benzene ring for constructing pyrazole-4-carboxamides containing an oxime ether fragment provides a unique thought to design new antifungal drugs targeting SDH.

Synthesis, Antifungal Evaluation, 3D-QSAR, and Preliminarily Mechanism Study of Novel Chiral Mandelic Acid Derivatives.

To investigate the effect of spatial configuration on the biological activity of the compounds, a series of chiral mandelic acid derivatives with a moiety of 1,3,4-oxadiazole thioether have been designed and synthesized. Bioassay results demonstrated that most title compounds with the S-configuration exhibited better in vitro antifungal activity against three plant fungi, such as H3' (EC50 = 19.3 µg/mL) against Gibberella saubinetii, which was approximately 16 times higher than that of H3 (EC50 = 317.0 µg/mL). CoMFA and CoMSIA models were established for 3D-QSAR analysis and provided an important support for further optimization of this series of compounds. Comparing the preliminary mechanism studies between enantiomers (H3 and H3') found that the S-configuration compound (H3') exhibited a stronger ability to destroy the surface structure of G. saubinetii mycelia, causing the leakage of intracellular substances to accelerate and the growth of the hyphae to be inhibited. The results provided a novel view for the further optimization of this series of active compounds and deep mechanism study of chiral pesticides.

Design, synthesis and antifungal evaluation of novel mandelic acid derivatives containing a 1,3,4-oxadiazothioether moiety.

A series of novel mandelic acid derivatives containing a 1,3,4-oxadiazothioether moiety were designed and synthesized. Bioassay results showed that some target compounds exhibited certain antifungal activity against six kinds of pathogenic fungi in vitro. Among the compounds, the EC50 values of T41 against Gibberella saubinetii, Verticillium dahlia and Sclerotinia sclerotiorum were 31.0, 27.0 and 32.1 µg/ml, respectively, and the EC50 value of T14 against S. sclerotiorum was 14.7 µg/ml. The antifungal activity against the resistant fungus S. sclerotiorum indicated that this series of target compounds may have the similar action modes or sites as the commercialized succinate dehydrogenase inhibitor carboxin. A morphological study with fluorescence microscope demonstrated that T41 can significantly destroy the membrane integrity of G. saubinetii.

Synthesis, Biological Evaluation, and 3D-QSAR Studies of N-(Substituted pyridine-4-yl)-1-(substituted phenyl)-5-trifluoromethyl-1H-pyrazole-4-carboxamide Derivatives as Potential Succinate Dehydrogenase Inhibitors.

A series of new fungicides that can inhibit the succinate dehydrogenase (SDH) was classified and named as SDH inhibitors by the Fungicide Resistance Action Committee in 2009. To develop more potential SDH inhibitors, we designed and synthesized a novel series of N-(substituted pyridine-4-yl)-1-(substituted phenyl)-5-trifluoromethyl-1H-pyrazole-4-carboxamide derivatives, 4a-4i, namely, 5a-5h, 6a-6h, and 7a-7j. The bioassay results demonstrated that some title compounds exhibited excellent antifungal activity against four tested phytopathogenic fungi (Gibberella zea, Fusarium oxysporum, Cytospora mandshurica, and Phytophthora infestans). The EC50 values were 1.8 µg/mL for 7a against G. zeae, 1.5 and 3.6 µg/mL for 7c against F. oxysporum and C. mandshurica, respectively, and 6.8 µg/mL for 7f against P. infestans. The SDH enzymatic activity testing revealed that the IC50 values of 4c, 5f, 7f, and penthiopyrad were 12.5, 135.3, 6.9, and 223.9 µg/mL, respectively. The molecular docking results of this series of title compounds with SDH model demonstrated that the compounds could completely locate inside of the pocket, the body fragment formed H bonds, and the phenyl ring showed a π-π interaction with Arg59, suggesting that these novel 5-trifluoromethyl-pyrazole-4-carboxamide derivatives might target SDH. These results could provide a benchmark for understanding the antifungal activity against the phytopathogenic fungus P. infestans and prompt us to discover more potent SDH inhibitors.

Antifungal Activity of Nanochitin Whisker against Crown Rot Diseases of Wheat.

Nanochitin whisker (NC) is a rodlike particle with a cationic nature and high biological activities. Crown rot, caused by soil-borne fungal pathogens including Fusarium pseudograminearum( Fp) and Fusarium graminearum( Fg), is one of the most damaging diseases in wheat. To explore the antifungal activity of NC against wheat diseases, the effects of nanochitin whisker suspension (NCs) on fungal growth and conidial production of Fp and Fg were studied in vitro. NCs and its mixture with chemical fungicide as a seeds coating agent for crown rot disease control were also investigated using Fp as a model microorganism in a pot test. The results showed that NCs had significant inhibitory effects on mycelial growth and conidial production of Fp and Fg at concentrations of 30 and 300 ppm in the growth medium. Particularly, 300 ppm of NCs was capable of reducing conidial formation 89.25% and 82.28% for Fp and Fg, respectively. When seeds were treated with a mixture of NCs and tebuconazole, the disease control efficiencies increased to 79.30% and 90.02% for NCs at concentrations of 10 and 30 ppm, respectively. Greener and shorter seedlings were also observed in the pot experiment. This indicates that NCs have strong antifungal activity against the soil-borne pathogens of wheat and reduce use of chemical fungicide in wheat plantation.