Synthesis and study of the antimicrobial activity of nifuroxazide derivatives

 The number of infections caused by microorganisms that are resistant to antibiotics and synthetic antibacterial drugs is growing fast worldwide. This is one of the most important and urgent problems in health care. The main efforts of researchers around the world are focused on solving this issue. Nitrofurans represent one of the most effective classes of antibacterial drugs. We have synthesized 4 analogues of nifuroxazide – a well known nitrofuran antibiotic – and confirmed their structures by NMR, IR spectroscopy, and mass-spectrometry. All of the obtained compounds were studied for antimicrobial and antifungal activity. 

Activity against Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, Staphylococcus haemolyticus, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa was evaluated by the agar diffusion method. The synthesized compounds suppressed the growth of all the studied bacterial strains except Escherichia coli; the diameter of the inhibition zones ranged from 13.5 to 28 mm depending on the concentration of the tested compound and bacterial strain. One of the compounds studied in this project – the pyridine analogue of nifuroxazide – exceeded the activity of the standard (nifuroxazide) against the Staphylococcus aureus. The inhibitory activity of the synthesized compounds against the Candida albicans and Cryptococcus neoformans yeasts was determined using the microdilution method. The results were assessed according to the indicator color change. None of the studied compounds showed activity against these cultures. 

The obtained results confirm that substituted nifuroxazides have significant antimicrobial activity and, therefore, can be considered as promising candidates for developing new antibacterial drugs.