Design, Synthesis and Evaluation of Antifungal Activity of Pyrazoleacetamide Derivatives.

Background: Fungal infections have posed a big challenge in the management of their treatment. Due to the resistance and toxicity of existing drug molecules in the light of pandemic infections, like COVID-19, there is an urgent need to find newer derivatives of active molecules, which can be effective in fungal infections.

Objective: In the present study, we aimed to design pyrazole derivatives using molecular modeling studies against target 1EA1 and synthesize 10 molecules of pyrazole derivatives using a multi-step synthesis approach.

Methods: Designed pyrazole derivatives were synthesized by conventional organic methods. The newly synthesized pyrazole molecules were characterized by using FT-IR, HNMR, CNMR, and LC-MS techniques. Molecular docking studies were also performed. The antifungal activity of newly synthesized compounds was assessed against using the well plate method.

Results: Two of the compounds, OK-7 and OK-8, have been found to show significant docking interaction with target protein 1EA1. These two compounds have also been found to show significant anti-fungal activity against and when compared to the standard fluconazole. The Minimum Inhibitory Concentration (MIC) value of these two compounds has been found to be 50 μg/ml.

Conclusion: Pyrazole derivatives with -CH, CHO-, and -CN groups have been found to be active against tested fungi and can be further explored for their potential as promising anti-fungal agents for applications in the field of medicinal chemistry.