Synthesis, in-vitro antitubercular, antifungal activities and in silico molecular docking study of chalcone derivatives from 1-(2'hydroxyphenyl)-3-(substituted-phenyl)-2-propenone

Abstract

Background: Tuberculosis (TB) is one of the major global health problems and faced to the increased resistance of Mycobacterium tuberculosis strains against existing antitubercular agents, it is important to look for new antitubercular drugs. Aims: The goal of this work was to synthesize four chalcones derivatives from 1-(2'-hydroxyphenyl)-3-(substituted-phenyl)-2-propenone, then evaluate their antitubercular and antifungal activities by standard computational and biological methods. Methods: These chalcones were synthesized by the Claisen-Schmidt condensation and their structures have been determined by Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR1H and13C) and Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy. The in vitro antimycobacterial and antifungal assays were carried out by the microdilution method against Mycobacterium tuberculosis H37Rv (ATCC 27294), H37Ra (ATCC 25177), and Candida albicans (MTCC 1637), respectively. The molecular docking of these chalcones was performed by AutoDock vina program using Mycobacterial tuberculosis Thymidylate Kinase (PDB ID: 1G3U) and dihydrofolate reductase (PDB ID 1AI9) as target ligand. Results: All synthesized chalcones showed good and moderated antitubercular activity against Mycobacterium tuberculosis H37Rv (virulent strains ATCC 27294), H37Ra (the attenuated strains ATCC 25177) with a range of MICs ranging from 4 to 64 µg/mL. Regarding antifungal activity, all synthesized chalcones were active against Candida albicans strains (MTCC 1637) with a range of MICs ranging from 16 to 128 µg/mL. Based on absorption, distribution, metabolism, and excretion (ADME) properties, all chalcones synthetized satisfied the Lipinski rule. Conclusion: The results suggest that the synthesized chalcones, especially the (E)-3-(4-(dimethylamino) phenyl)-1-(2-hydroxy-4,6-dimethoxyphenyl) prop-2-en-1-one could be used, after in vivo and clinical tests, like antitubercular and antifungal supplement or even replace current drug therapies.