Computer-aided drug discovery: Novel 3,9-disubstituted eudistomin U derivatives as potent antibacterial agents

Abstract Thirty-two new 3,9-disubstituted eudistomin U derivatives were designed and synthesized based on computer-aided drug discovery (CADD). Sixteen 3,9-disubstituted eudistomin U derivatives ( 6a – 6p ) have exhibited potent antibacterial activity. Specially, the most active compound 6p displayed better activity than commercial drugs fosfomycin sodium, ciprofloxacin and propineb, with a peak minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of 1.5625 μmol/L. The antibacterial mechanism indicated that these compounds could exert bactericidal effect by damaging bacterial cell membrane and disrupting the function of DNA gyrase.