Chromenol Derivatives as Novel Antifungal Agents: Synthesis, In Silico and In Vitro Evaluation
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2021
Authors:
Zveaghintseva, MarinaStingaci, Eugenia
Pogrebnoi, Sergei
Smetanscaia, Anastasia
Valica, Vladimir
Uncu, Livia
Kravtsov, Victor
Melnik, Elena
Petrou, Anthi
Glamočlija, Jasmina
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Soković, Marina
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Carazo, Alejandro
Mladěnka, Přemysl
Poroikov, Vladimir
Geronikaki, Athina
Macaev, Fliur
Document Type:
Article (Published version)
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract:
Herein we report the synthesis of some new 1H-1,2,4-triazole functionalized chromenols
(3a–3n) via tandem reactions of 1-(alkyl/aryl)-2-(1H-1,2,4-triazole-1-yl) with salicylic aldehydes and
the evaluation of their antifungal activity. In silico prediction of biological activity spectra with
computer program PASS indicate that the compounds have a high novelty compared to the known
antifungal agents. We did not find any close analog among the over 580,000 pharmaceutical agents
in the Cortellis Drug Discovery Intelligence database at the similarity cutoff of 70%. The evaluation
of antifungal activity in vitro revealed that the highest activity was exhibited by compound 3k,
followed by 3n. Their MIC values for different fungi were 22.1–184.2 and 71.3–199.8 M, respectively.
Twelve from fourteen tested compounds were more active than the reference drugs ketoconazole and
bifonazole. The most sensitive fungus appeared to be Trichoderma viride, while Aspergillus fumigatus
was the most resistant one. It was found that the presence of the 2-(tert-butyl)-2H-chromen-2-ol
substituent on the 4th position of the triazole ring is very beneficial for antifungal activity. Molecular
docking studies on C. albicans sterol 14 -demethylase (CYP51) and DNA topoisomerase IV were used
to predict the mechanism of antifungal activities. According to the docking results, the inhibition
of CYP51 is a putative mechanism of antifungal activity of the novel chromenol derivatives. We
also showed that most active compounds have a low cytotoxicity, which allows us to consider them
promising antifungal agents for the subsequent testing activity in in vivo assays.
Keywords:
vinyl-1,2,4-triazole; chromenol; Antifungal activity; C. albicans CYP51; PASS; Molecular dockingSource:
Molecules, 2021, 26, 14, 4304-Funding / projects:
- Ministry of Science, Technological Development and Innovation of the Republic of Serbia, institutional funding - 200007 (University of Belgrade, Institute for Biological Research 'Siniša Stanković') (RS-MESTD-inst-2020-200007)
DOI: 10.3390/molecules26144304
ISSN: 1420-3049
PubMed: 34299579