Disconnecting the Estrogen Receptor Binding Properties and Antimicrobial Properties of Parabens through 3,5-Substitution.

Commercially utilized parabens are employed for their antimicrobial properties, but a weak binding to the estrogen receptor alpha (ER) may lead to breast cancer in some applications. Modification of the paraben scaffold should allow for a disconnection of these observed properties. Toward this goal, various 3,5-substituted parabens were synthesized and assessed for antimicrobial properties against as well as competitive binding to the ER.