Synthesis of 4-thiazolidinone analogs as potent in vitro anti-urease agents

•Synthesis of 4-thiazolidinone derivatives.•In vitro urease inhibitory activity.•Identification of a new class of urease inhibitors.•Structure–activity relationship established.•Molecular docking.

4-Thiazolidinone analogs 1–20 were synthesized, characterized by 1H NMR and EI–MS and investigated for urease inhibitory activity. All twenty (20) analogs exhibited varied degree of urease inhibitory potential with IC50 values 1.73–69.65 μM, if compared with standard thiourea having IC50 value of 21.25 ± 0.15 μM. Among the series, eight derivatives 3, 6, 8, 10, 15, 17, 19, and 20 showed outstanding urease inhibitory potential with IC50 values of 9.34 ± 0.02, 14.62 ± 0.03, 8.43 ± 0.01, 7.3 ± 0.04, 2.31 ± 0.002, 5.75 ± 0.003, 8.81 ± 0.005, and 1.73 ± 0.001 μM, respectively, which is better than the standard thiourea. The remaining analogs showed good to excellent urease inhibition. The binding interactions of these compounds were confirmed through molecular docking studies.

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