Synthesis and evaluation of α-ketotriazoles and α,β-diketotriazoles as inhibitors of Mycobacterium tuberculosis

•A series of α,β-diketotriazoles were synthesized.•Two compounds displayed inhibitory activity of 7 μM against M. tuberculosis H37Rv and MDR M. tuberculosis strains.•α,β-Diketotriazoles are not cytotoxic on two human cell lines.

Two series of α-ketotriazole and α,β-diketotriazole derivatives were synthesized and evaluated for antitubercular and cytotoxic activities. Among them, two α,β-diketotriazole compounds, 6b and 9b, exhibited good activities (minimum inhibitory concentration = 7.6 μM and 6.9 μM, respectively) on Mycobacterium tuberculosis and multi-drug resistant M. tuberculosis strains and presented no cytotoxicity (IC50 > 50 μM) on colorectal cancer HCT116 and normal fibroblast GM637H cell lines. These two compounds represent promising leads for further optimization.

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