Discovery of Novel Piperidinylthiazole Derivatives As Broad-Spectrum Fungicidal Candidates

Oxathiapiprolin is one of the best active fungicides discovered for oomycetes control. To develop a fungicide candidate with a broad spectrum of activity, 22 new piperidinylthiazole derivatives were designed and synthesized. Compound 5l showed the best activity against Pseudoperonospora cubensis (Berk. et Curt.) Rostov and Phytophthora infestans in vivo with 100% and 80% of inhibition, respectively, at 1 mg/L, and 72.87% of field efficacy against P. cubensis at 1 g ai/667 m² validated these results. Compound 5i exhibited a broad spectrum of excellent activity against Sclerotinia sclerotiorum with EC₅₀ = 0.30 mg/L (>10 times more active than oxathiapiprolin and azoxystrobin in vitro), good activity against Botrytis cinerea, Cercospora arachidicola, and Gibberella zeae with EC₅₀ of 14.54, 5.57, and 14.03 mg/L in vitro and against P. cubensis and P. infestans with 60% and 30% inhibition rates, respectively, at 1 mg/L in vivo. Mode of action studies by RNA sequencing analysis discovered oxysterol-binding protein (OSBP), chitin synthase (CHS1), and (1,3)-β-glucan synthase (FKS2) as the potent target of 5i against S. sclerotiorum. Quenching studies validated that OSBP was the same target of both 5i and oxathiapiprolin; it was quenched by both of them. Our studies discovered isothiazole-containing piperidinylthiazole as an OSBP target-based novel lead for fungicide development.