Antibiotic resistance is one of the world's biggest problems. Resistance develops shortly after antibiotics are introduced into therapy. The discovery of a new antibiotic would be an important step in the fight against antibiotic resistance. One of the potential targets is DNA gyrase, which belongs to a group of enzymes called topoisomerases. DNA gyrase consists of two subunits A and two subunits B, which are targets for antibacterial agents.
In this master's thesis, we synthesized three DNA gyrase B inhibitors with 3,4-dichloro-5-methyl-N-phenylpyrrolamide core structure. To form additional and stronger interactions at the enzyme binding site, we introduced different substituents to the core structure. By determining the half-maximal inhibitory concentration (IC50) on Escherichia coli DNA gyrase, we evaluated the activity of the synthesized compounds and the effect of the different substituents on binding affinity.
The synthesis was carried out by three synthetic routes. During the synthesis, the identity, physicochemical properties, and purity of the compounds were determined by chromatographic (thin-layer and column chromatography, high-performance liquid chromatography) and spectroscopic methods (nuclear magnetic resonance, infrared spectroscopy, mass spectrometry), and by melting point measurements. Compound 20 proved to be the most active (IC50 = 243 nM), while the other compounds (7 and 12) were less active (IC50 > 1µM). The reason for the lower activity can be attributed to the benzyl (7) and methoxyethyl (12) substituents attached to the nitrogen atom of the amide group, as they do not form favorable interactions in the so-called lipophilic floor of the enzyme compared to the compounds with aliphatic or aromatic substituents attached directly to the ortho site (with respect to the pyrrolamide moiety) of the central phenyl ring. Compound 20, with the sulfonamide group attached to the right side of the molecule, retained some activity, but it was lower compared to compounds with acidic heterocycles, e.g., the 1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-one ring or tetrazole.
Although we did not prepare compounds with improved inhibitory activity against DNA gyrase, we obtained information that will be useful in the design of new DNA gyrase B inhibitors.
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