Synthesis and in vitro antimicrobial activity of some novel substituted benzimidazole derivatives having potent activity against MRSA

The novel benzimidazole derivatives (3, 5, 8, 9, 12–14, 18–41) were prepared in this paper and the antimicrobial activities of these compounds against Staphylococcus aureus, methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA, standard and clinical isolates), Bacillus subtilis, Escherichia coli and Candida albicans were evaluated. Compounds 24–26 which have no substitution of N-1 position displayed better antibacterial activities than those of standards (ciprofloxacin, ampicillin and sultamicillin) against both the drug-resistant bacteria (MRSA, standard and clinical isolates). These derivatives (24–26), 2,5,6-trihalogenobenzimidazole analogues (8, 12), 5,6-dichloro-2-amino derivative (13), and 5-chloro-2-(4-benzyloxyphenyl)benzimidazole (35) exhibited the most potent antibacterial activity with MIC 3.12 μg/ml against S. aureus.

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