Design, synthesis and molecular docking of salicylic acid derivatives containing metronidazole as a new class of antimicrobial agents.

A series of novel salicylic acid derivatives containing metronidazole as Staphylococcus aureus Tyrosyl-tRNA synthetase (TyrRS) inhibitors have been synthesized and evaluated their biology activities as potential antibacterial agents. Among these compounds, compound 5r exhibited the most potent antibacterial activity against Gram-positive (S. aureus ATCC 6538 and Bacillus subtilis ATCC 6633) and Gram-negative (Escherichia coli ATCC 35218 and Pseudomonas aeruginosa ATCC 13525) with MICs of 0.39-1.57 μg/mL and showed the most potent S. aureus Tyrosyl-tRNA synthetase inhibitory with 2.3 μM. Docking simulation was performed to insert compound 5r into the crystal structure of S. aureus Tyrosyl-tRNA synthetase active site to determine the probable binding model. These results suggested that compound 5r may be a promising antibacterial agent.