Synthesis, biological evaluation and 3D QSAR study of 2,4-disubstituted quinolines as anti-tuberculosis agents

The synthesis and anti-tuberculosis activity for three series of 2,4-disubstituted quinolines is reported. The synthesized compounds were evaluated for activity against M. tuberculosis H37Rv strain; most promising compounds from the series exhibited MIC99 values ranged between 3.125 and 6.25 μg/mL. None of the compounds exhibited cytotoxicity up to the highest test concentration of 200 μg/mL. To understand the relationship between structure and activity, a 3D-QSAR analysis has been carried out by Comparative Molecular Field Analysis (CoMFA). Atom-fit alignment provided the best model, and allowed prediction of the activity of molecules in the test sets leading to the rationalization of the relationship between structure and activity.