Synthesis and antibacterial bioactivities of cationic deacetyl linezolid amphiphiles.

Bacterial infections cause various life-threatening diseases and have become a serious public health problem due to the emergence of drug-resistant strains. Thus, novel antibiotics with excellent antibacterial activity and low cytotoxicity are urgently needed. Here, three series of novel cationic deacetyl linezolid amphiphiles bearing one lipophilic alkyl chain and one non-peptidic amide bond were synthesized and tested for antimicrobial activities. Several compounds showed excellent antibacterial activity toward drug-sensitive bacteria such as gram-negative bacteria Escherichia coli (E. coli), Salmonella enterica (S. enterica) and gram-positive Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus), Enterococcus faecalis (E. faecalis). Moreover, these amphiphilic molecules also exhibited strong activity against drug-resistant species such as methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA), KPC (Klebsiella pneumoniae carbapenemase) and NDM-1 (New Delhi metallo-ß-lactamase 1) producing carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae (CRE). For example, the MICs (minimum inhibitory concentrations) of the best compound 6e, ranged from 2 to 16 µg/mL and linezolid ranged from 2 to >64 µg/mL against these strains. Therefore, 6e is a broad-spectrum antimicrobial compound that may be a suitable lead as an antibiotic. The molecule 6e were found to function primarily by permeabilization and depolarization of bacterial membranes. Importantly, bacterial resistance against compound 6e was difficult to induce, and 6e was stable under plasma conditions and showed suitable activity in mammalian plasma. Thus, these compounds can be further developed into a potential new class of broad-spectrum antibiotics.

Synthesis and antibacterial evaluation of novel cationic chalcone derivatives possessing broad spectrum antibacterial activity.

There is an urgent need to identify new antibiotics with novel mechanisms that combat antibiotic resistant bacteria. Herein, a series of chalcone derivatives that mimic the essential properties of cationic antimicrobial peptides were designed and synthesized. Antibacterial activities against drug-sensitive bacteria, including Staphylococcus aureus, Enterococcus faecalis, Escherichia coli and Salmonella enterica, as well as clinical multiple drug resistant isolates of methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA), KPC-2-producing and NDM-1-producing Carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae were evaluated. Representative compounds 5a (MIC: 1 µg/mL against S. aureus, 0.5 µg/mL against MRSA) and 5g (MIC: 0.5 µg/mL against S. aureus, 0.25 µg/mL against MRSA) showed good bactericidal activity against both Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria, including the drug-resistant species MRSA, KPC and NDM. These membrane-active antibacterial compounds were demonstrated to reduce the viable cell counts in bacterial biofilms effectively and do not induce the development of resistance in bacteria. Additionally, these representative molecules exhibited negligible toxicity toward mammalian cells at a suitable concentration. The combined results indicate that this series of cationic chalcone derivatives have potential therapeutic effects against bacterial infections.

Synthesis and bioactivities study of new antibacterial peptide mimics: The dialkyl cationic amphiphiles.

The emergence of infectious diseases caused by pathogenic bacteria is widespread. Therefore, it is urgently required to enhance the development of novel antimicrobial agents with high antibacterial activity and low cytotoxicity. A series of novel dialkyl cationic amphiphiles bearing two identical length lipophilic alkyl chains and one non-peptidic amide bond were synthesized and tested for antimicrobial activities against both Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria. Particular compounds synthesized showed excellent antibacterial activity toward drug-sensitive bacteria such as S. aureus, E. faecalis, E. coli and S. enterica, and clinical isolates of drug-resistant species such as methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA), KPC-producing and NDM-1-producing carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae (CRE). For example, the MIC values of the best compound 4g ranged from 0.5 to 2 µg/mL against all these strains. Moreover, these small molecules acted rapidly as bactericidal agents, and functioned primarily by permeabilization and depolarization of bacterial membranes. Importantly, these compounds were difficult to induce bacterial resistance and can potentially combat drug-resistant bacteria. Thus, these compounds can be developed into a new class of antibacterial peptide mimics against Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria, including drug-resistant bacterial strains.

NOTA analogue: A first dithiocarbamate inhibitor of metallo-ß-lactamases.

The emergence of antibiotic drug (like carbapenem) resistance is being a global crisis. Among those resistance factors of the ß-lactam antibiotics, the metallo-ß-lactamases (MBLs) is one of the most important reasons. In this paper, a series of cyclic dithiocarbamate compounds were synthesized and their inhibition activities against MBLs were initially tested combined with meropenem (MEM) by in vitro antibacterial efficacy tests. Sodium 1,4,7-triazonane-1,4,7-tris(carboxylodithioate) (compound 5) was identified as the most active molecule to restore the activity of MEM. Further anti-bacterial effectiveness assessment, compound 5 restored the activity of MEM against Escherichia coli, Citrobacter freundii, Proteus mirabilis and Klebsiella pneumonia, which carried resistance genes of blaNDM-1. The compound 5 was non-hemolytic, even at a concentration of 1000 µg/mL. This compound was low toxic toward mammalian cells, which was confirmed by fluorescence microscopy image and the inhibition rate of HeLa cells. The Ki value of compounds 5 against NDM-1 MBL was 5.63 ±â€¯1.27 µM. Zinc ion sensitivity experiments showed that the inhibitory effect of compound 5 as a MBLs inhibitor was influenced by zinc ion. The results of the bactericidal kinetics displayed that compound 5 as an adjuvant assisted MEM to kill all bacteria. These data validated that this NOTA dithiocarbamate analogue is a good inhibitor of MBLs.

Discovery of novel jaspine B analogues as autophagy inducer.

A series of 2-alkylaminomethyl jaspine B analogues were synthesized and evaluated for their cytotoxic effects on human lung adenocarcinoma, breast cancer, and prostate cancer cell lines and a mouse melanoma cell line. Most of the compounds exhibited moderate to good activity against the cancer cell lines. Compound 7f showed the best overall cytotoxicity on PC-3 cells (IC50 = 0.85 µM). Further mechanistic studies revealed that compound 7f induced marked changes in PC-3 cell morphology, disrupted the mitochondrial membrane potential, and increased expression of the autophagy proteins beclin-1, LC3, and P62.