Potentiating 1-(2-hydroxypropyl)-2-styryl-5-nitroimidazole derivatives against antibacterial agents: design, synthesis and biology analysis.

A series of novel 1-(2-hydroxypropyl)-2-styryl-5-nitroimidazole derivatives had been designed, synthesized, isolated and evaluated as potentiators of antibacterial agents. All these synthesized compounds were determined by elemental analysis, (1)H NMR, and MS. Their biological activities were also evaluated against two Gram-negative bacterial strains: Escherichia coli and Pseudomonas aeruginosa and two Gram-positive bacterial strains: Bacillus thuringiensis and Bacillus subtilis by MTT method as potential FabH inhibitory. The results showed that compound 30 exhibited the most potent E. coli FabH inhibitory activity with IC50 of 4.6 μM. Molecular modeling simulation studies were performed in order to predict the biological activities of the proposed compounds. All compounds have been tested for toxicity by MTT assay on human macrophage.