Synthesis, Characterization and Antimicrobial Activity of Trimethylantimony(V) Biscyanoximates, a New Family of Antimicrobials.

Antimicrobial compounds play a critical role in combating microbial infections. However, the emergence of antibiotic and antifungal resistance and the scarcity of new antibiotic developments pose a significant threat and demand the discovery of new antimicrobials for both bacterial and fungal pathogens. Our previous work described the first generation () of organoantimony-based compounds that showed antimicrobial activity against several bacterial and fungal pathogens.

Novel antimony-based antimicrobial drug targets membranes of Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacterial pathogens.

Unlabelled: Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) poses a significant worldwide public health crisis that continues to threaten our ability to successfully treat bacterial infections. With the decline in effectiveness of conventional antimicrobial therapies and the lack of new antibiotic pipelines, there is a renewed interest in exploring the potential of metal-based antimicrobial compounds. Antimony-based compounds with a long history of use in medicine have re-emerged as potential antimicrobial agents.

Non-Antibiotic Antimony-Based Antimicrobials.

A series of the eight novel organoantimony(V) cyanoximates of Sb(CH)L composition was synthesized using the high-yield heterogeneous metathesis reaction between solid AgL (or TlL) and Sb(CH)Br in CHCN at room temperature. Cyanoximes L were specially selected from a large group of 48 known compounds of this subclass of oximes on the basis of their water solubility and history of prior biological activity. The synthesized compounds are well soluble in organic solvents and were studied using a variety of conventional spectroscopic and physical methods.