Synthesis, antibacterial activity and quantum-chemical studies of novel 2-arylidenehydrazinyl-4-arylthiazole analogues

A new series of 2-arylidenehydrazinyl-4-arylthiazole derivatives (2a-k) was designed and synthesized through a rapid, simple, and efficient methodology in excellent isolated yield. These compounds were screened for in vitro antimicrobial activities against eight bacteria, e.g. Bacillus cereus, Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus subtilis, Bacillus megaterium, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Shigella dysenteriae, Salmonella typhi, Escherichia coli, and three fungi e.g. Aspergillus oryzae, Candida albicans, and Saccharomyces cerevis. The results indicate that some of the compounds exhibit strong antibacterial activity, depending on the bacterial strain, but show virtually no antifungal activity. The structure-antibacterial activity relationships were studied using some physicochemical and quantum-chemical parameters with the ab initio Hartree-Fock model at the RHF/6-31G level of theory. A good qualitative correlation between predicted lipophilic parameters and antibacterial activity has been found.