Synthesis and characterization of new N-(4-(4-chloro-1H-imidazol-1-yl)-3-methoxyphenyl)amide/sulfonamide derivatives as possible antimicrobial and antitubercular agents

•New series of imidazole derivatives were synthesized.•In vitro antimicrobial and antimycobacterial screening were carried out.•Compounds 7d, 7f, 7h and 7n showed substantial antitubercular activity.•(Pd2(dba)3/RuPhos) catalyzed Buchwald cross-coupling.

In this paper we report the SAR studies of a series of N-(4-(4-chloro-1H-imidazol-1-yl)-3-methoxyphenyl)amide and N-(4-(4-chloro-1H-imidazol-1-yl)-3-methoxyphenyl)sulfonamide derivatives 6(a–o) and 7(a–o), were synthesized in good yields and characterized by 1H NMR, 13C NMR and mass spectral analyses. The preparation of the key intermediate highlights an optimized palladium catalyzed (Pd2(dba)3/RuPhos) Buchwald cross-coupling of intermediate 2 and 3. The newly synthesized compounds were evaluated for their in vitro antibacterial activity against Staphylococcus aureus, (Gram-positive), Escherichia coli and Klebsiella pneumoniae (Gram-negative), antifungal activity against Candida albicans, Aspergillus flavus and Rhizopus sp. and antitubercular activity against Mycobacterium tuberculosis H37Rv, Mycobacterium smegmatis, Mycobacterium fortuitum and MDR-TB strains. The synthesized compounds displayed interesting antimicrobial activity. The compounds 7d, 7f, 7h and 7n displayed significant activity against Mycobacterium tuberculosis H37Rv strain.

Graphical abstractSynthesis, characterization and SAR studies of a new series of N-(4-(4-chloro-1H-imidazol-1-yl)-3-methoxyphenyl)amide and N-(4-(4-chloro-1H-imidazol-1-yl)-3-methoxyphenyl) sulfonamide derivatives and their antimicrobial, antitubercular studies.Figure optionsDownload full-size imageDownload as PowerPoint slide