Novel Mannich Bases of Benzimidazole Derivatives: An Antibacterial Study of Environmental Bacterial Strains

A previous study was conducted on the synthesis and antibacterial evaluation of Mannich bases of 2-(thioalkyl)-1H-methylbenzimidazole derivatives. The results of this study showed that certain 2-(thioalkyl)-1H-methylbenzimidazole and 2-(thioalkyl)-methyl-1-(piperidin-1-ylmethyl)benzimidazole derivatives possess antibacterial activities against clinical strains, such as Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumonia (Gram-negative bacteria), Staphylococcus aureus and Pseudomonas aeruginosa (Gram-positive bacteria). Following these favorable results, we extended the antibacterial evaluation of this series of molecules to environmental strains. The aim of this study was to assess the impact of the methyl-piperidine group fixed at position-1 of this new series of benzimidazoles on the antibacterial activity of environmental strains. In addition, we first evaluated the antibacterial activity of four 2-(thioalkyl)methylbenzimidazole derivatives and then that of five 2-(thioalkyl)-methyl-1-(piperidin-1-ylmethyl) benzimidazole derivatives. This study allowed us to show that compounds 1d and 1e could inhibit bacterial growth in vitro of the Enterobacteria P1 strain with inhibition diameters of 17.3 ± 0.6 mm and 10 ± 0.0 mm, respectively. However, addition of methyl-piperidinyl in this series showed that five (5) of 2-(thioalkyl)-methyl-1-(piperidin-1-ylmethyl) benzimidazole derivatives had an inhibitory effect on the in vitro growth of bacterial strains used except on Enterobacteria P2 with inhibition diameters between 10.0 ± 0.8 mm and 27.9 ± 1.4 mm. The introduction of the methyl-piperidinyl group at the 1-position of 2-(thioalkyl)-1H-methylbenzimidazole derivatives greatly improved the antibacterial activity against environmental bacteria such as Escherichia coli A1, A2, A3, and A4 and two Enterobacteria P1.