CAN catalyzed one-pot synthesis and docking study of some novel substituted imidazole coupled 1,2,4-triazole-5-carboxylic acids as antifungal agents

The present work describes a facile, one-pot three component synthesis of a series of 3-[(4,5-diphenyl-2-substituted aryl/heteryl)-1H-imidazol-1-yl]-1H-1,2,4-triazole-5-carboxylic acid derivatives M(1-15). Benzil, aromatic aldehydes and 3-amino-1,2,4-triazole-5-carboxylic acid was refluxed in ethanol using cerric ammonium nitrate (CAN) as a catalyst to give the title compounds in good yields. The compounds were evaluated for their in vitro antifungal and antibacterial activity. Compounds M1, M9, and M15 were found to be equipotent against Candida albicans when compared with fluconazole. Compounds M2, M5, and M14 showed higher activity against Streptococcus pneumoniae, Escherichia coli and Streptococcus pyogenes, respectively, compared with ampicillin. Docking study of the newly synthesized compounds was performed, and the results showed good bindingmode in the active sites of C. albicans enzyme cytochrome P450 lanosterol 14α-demethylase. The results of in vitro antifungal activity and docking study showed that synthesized compounds had potential antifungal activity and can be further optimized and developed as a lead compound.