Synthesis and DNA-binding study of imidazole linked thiazolidinone derivatives

A novel series of imidazole-linked thiazolidinone hybrid molecules were designed and synthesized through a feasible synthetic protocol. The molecules were characterized with Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR), ¹ H nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), ¹³ C NMR and high-resolution mass spectrometry (HRMS) techniques. In vitro susceptibility tests against Gram-positive (S. aureus and B. subtilis) and Gram-negative bacteria (E. coli and P. aeruginosa) gave highly promising results. The most active molecule (3e) gave a minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC) value of 3.125 μg/mL which is on par with the reference drug streptomycin. Structure-activity relationships revealed activity enhancement by nitro and chloro groups when they occupied meta position of the arylidene ring in 2-((3-(imidazol-1-yl)propyl)amino)-5-benzylidenethiazolidin-4-ones. DNA-binding study of the most potent molecule 3e with salmon milt DNA (sm-DNA) under simulated physiological pH was probed with UV-visible absorption, fluorescence quenching, gel electrophoresis and molecular docking techniques. These studies established that compound 3e has a strong affinity towards DNA and binds at DNA minor groove with a binding constant (K_b ) 0.18 × 10²  L mol^-1 . Molecular docking simulations predicted strong affinity of 3e towards DNA with a binding affinity (ΔG) -8.5 kcal/mol. Van der Waals forces, hydrogen bonding and hydrophobic interactions were predicted as the main forces of interaction. The molecule 3e exhibited specific affinity towards adenine-thiamine base pairs. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.