Synthesis, molecular structure investigations and antimicrobial activity of 2-thioxothiazolidin-4-one derivatives

•A series of 2-thioxothiazolidin-4-one derivatives have been synthesized.•The structure for 3 was elucidated by X-ray diffraction.•MEP, NBO and FMO were studied using DFT calculations.•In-vitro evaluation of antibacterial and antifungal potencies were carried out.

A variety of 2-thioxothiazolidin-4-one derivatives were prepared and their in vitro antimicrobial activities were studied. Most of these compounds showed significant antibacterial activity specifically against Gram-positive bacteria, among which compounds 4a,e,g, 5b,e,g,h and 6f exhibit high levels of antimicrobial activity against Bacillus subtilis ATCC 10400 with Minimum Inhibitory Concentration (MIC) value of 16 μg/mL. All compounds have antifungal activity against Candida albicans. Unfortunately, however, none of the compounds were active against Gram-negative bacteria. The chemical structure of 3 was confirmed by X-ray single crystal diffraction technique. DFT calculations of 3 have been performed on the free C10H7Cl2NO2S2, 3a and the H-bonded complex, C10H7Cl2NO2S2·H2O, 3b to explore the effect of the H-bonding interactions on the geometric and electronic properties of the studied systems. A small increase in bond length was observed in the C12–O6 due to the H-bonding interactions between 3a and water molecule. MEP study has been used to recognize the most reactive sites towards electrophilic and nucleophilic attacks as well as the possible sites for the H-bonding interactions. The TD-DFT calculations have been used to predict theoretically the electronic spectra of the studied compound. The most intense transition band is predicted at 283.9 nm due to the HOMO-2/HOMO-1 to LUMO transitions. NBO analyses were carried out to investigate the stabilization energy of the various intramolecular charge transfer interactions within the studied molecules.

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