Antimicrobial and Molecular Docking Studies of 1,3,4-Thiadiazole Tethered Sulfa-Azo Derivatives via Hydrazono-Methyl Bridge

A new series of 1,3,4-thiadiazole linked to sulfa-azo derivatives via hydrazono-methyl bridge were synthesized via the reaction of methyl ((E)-(sulfa-derivatives)diazenyl) benzylidene)hydrazine-1-carbodithioates 1a-e with ethyl ester and acetyl hydrazonyl halides 2a-d. The chemical structures of the newly 1,3,4-thiadiazoles 3a-t have been clarified considring their elemental and spectral analysis. Antimicrobial activity of the newly 1,3,4-thiadiazoles was determined for Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, Candida albicans, as well as Aspergillus niger using the cup agar plate diffusion method. Out of the twenty compounds, compounds 3j, 3k, 3l, and 3s with isoxazole sulfonamides were selected for MIC assay. Compound 3j was equipotent with neomycin control drug against all tested strains, while compound 3k was 4-fold higher than neomycin against S. aureus, E. coli, and C. albicans with MIC values of 9.77, 19.53, and 19.53 μg/mL, respectively. Compound 3l was equipotent with neomycin against S. aureus and C. albicans, while it was 2-fold higher than neomycin against E. coli with MIC of 39.06 μg/mL. For 3s, it was less potent than neomycin against all tested microbs with 2-fold and 4-fold less potent. Further scanning electron microscopy (SEM) investigation has been studied to reveal the disruption effect of the selected potent antimicrobial compound (3k) on the intact cells of tested microbs S. aureus, E. coli in addition to C. albicans. Results showed that 3k exhibited a noticeable effect on destroying microbial cell walls. Furthermore, molecular docking study has been done to assess the binding behavior of two most effective compounds 3k and 3l with the target crystal structure of dihydropteroate synthase (PDB: 6CLV for S. aureus) and (PDB: 5U14 for E. coli). Compound 3k was shown to be able to form stable complexes with both target enzymes of dihydropteroate synthase through hydrogen bonding and hydrophobic interactions.