Synthesis of 1,2,3-triazole linked 4(3H)-Quinazolinones as potent antibacterial agents against multidrug-resistant Staphylococcus aureus

Abstract Methicillin and vancomycin resistant Staphylococcus aureus infections are an emerging global health concern leading to increasing morbidity and mortality. Continuous increase in drug resistance has underlined the need for discovery and development of new antibacterial agents acting via novel mechanisms to overcome this pressing issue. In this context, a number of 1,2,3-triazole linked 4(3 H )-quinazolinone derivatives were designed and synthesized as potent antibacterial agents. When evaluated against ESKAP pathogen panel, compounds 7a , 7b , 7c, 7e, 7f, 7g, 7h, 7i, 9a, 9c, 9d and 9e exhibited significantly selective inhibitory activities towards Staphylococcus aureus (MIC = 0.5–4  μ g/mL). To understand and confirm the specificity of these compounds, the compounds 7a and 9a were tested against E. coli and A. baumannii in combination with sub-lethal concentrations of Polymyxin B nonapeptide (PMBN) and were found to be inactive. This clearly indicated that these compounds possess specific and potent activity towards S. aureus and are inactive against gram-negative pathogens. Encouragingly, the compounds were also found to be non toxic to Vero cells and displayed favourable selectivity index (SI = 40 to 80). Furthermore, 7a and 9a were found to possess potent inhibitory activity when tested against multidrug resistant S. aureus including strains resistant to vancomycin (MIC values 0.5–32  μ g/mL), indicating that the compounds are able to escape current drug-resistance mechanisms. With the potent anti-bacterial activity exhibited the new series of 1,2,3-triazole linked 4(3 H )-quinazolinones have emerged as promising candidates for treating multidrug resistant Staphylococcus aureus infections.