Synthesis of 2-amino-6-oxocyclohexenylsulfonamides and their activity against Botrytis cinerea.

Background: With the objective of exploring the fungicidal activity of 2-oxocyclohexylsulfonamides (2), a series of novel 2-amino-6-oxocyclohexenylsulfonamides (6 to 23) were synthesised, and their fungicidal activities against Botrytis cinerea Pers. were evaluated in vitro and in vivo.

Results: The compounds were characterised by IR, 1H NMR and elemental analysis. Bioassay results of mycelial growth showed that compounds 6 to 23 had a moderate antifungal activity against B. cinerea. N-(2-methylphenyl)-2-(2-methylphenylamino)-4,4-dimethyl-6-oxocyclohexenylsulfonamide (13) and N-(2-chlorophenyl)-2-(2-chlorophenylamino)-6-oxocyclohexenylsulfonamide (21) showed best antifungal activities, with EC50 values of 8.05 and 10.56 µg mL(-1) respectively. Commercial fungicide procymidone provided an EC50 value of 0.63 µg mL(-1) . The conidial germination assay showed that most of compounds 6 to 23 possessed excellent inhibition of spore germination and germ-tube elongation of conidia of B. cinerea. For in vivo control of B. cinerea colonising cucumber leaves, the compound N-cyclohexyl-2-(cyclohexylamino)-4,4-dimethyl-6-oxocyclohexenylsulfonamide (19) showed a better control effect than the commercial fungicide procymidone.

Conclusion: The present work demonstrated that 2-amino-6-oxocyclohexenylsulfonamides can be used as possible new lead compounds for further developing novel fungicides against B. cinerea.