Discovery of novel bacterial FabH inhibitors (Pyrazol-Benzimidazole amide derivatives): Design, synthesis, bioassay, molecular docking and crystal structure determination.

The enzyme FabH catalyzes the initial step of fatty acid biosynthesis that is essential for bacterial survival. Therefore, FabH has been identified as an attractive target for the development of new antibacterial agents. We present here the discovery of a promising new series of Pyrazol-Benzimidazole amides with low toxicity and potent FabH inhibitory. Twenty-seven novel compounds have been synthesized, and all the compounds were characterized by 1H NMR, 13C NMR and MS. Afterwards they were evaluated for in-vitro antibacterial activities against E. coli, P. aeruginosa, B. subtilis and S. aureus, along with E. coli FabH inhibition and cytotoxicity test. Some compounds proved to be of low toxicity and potent, especially compound 31 exhibited the most potential to be a new drug with MIC of 0.49–0.98 μg/mL against the tested bacterial strains and IC50 of 1.22 μM against E. coli FabH. Eight analogues 16, 28, 30, 31, 33, 34, 35 and 36 with low range MIC against wild type Xanthomonas Campestris exhibited no inhibition against FabH-deficient mutant strain, which firmly proved the class of compounds arrived at antibacterial activity via interacting with FabH. In silico ADMET (Absorption, Distribution, Metabolism, Excretion and Toxicity) evaluation also pointed out that these compounds are potential for druggability. Further, effective overall docking scores of all the compounds have been recorded, and docking simulation of compound 31 into E. coli FabH binding pocket has been conducted, where solid binding interactions has been identified.