Chalcone Derivatives as Antibacterial Agents: An Updated Overview

The indiscriminate use of antibiotics brings an alarming reality: in 2050, bacterial resistance could be the main cause of death in the world, resulting in the death of 10 million people, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). In this sense, to combat bacterial resistance, several natural substances, including chalcones, have been described in relation to antibacterial, representing a potential tool for the discovery of new antibacterial drugs.

The objective of this study is to perform a bibliographic survey and discuss the main contributions in the literature about the antibacterial potential of chalcones in the last 5 years.

A search was carried out in the main repositories, for which the publications of the last 5 years were investigated and discussed. Unprecedented in this review, in addition to the bibliographic survey, molecular docking studies were carried out to exemplify the applicability of using one of the molecular targets for the design of new entities with antibacterial activity.

In the last 5 years, antibacterial activities were reported for several types of chalcones, for which activities were observed for both gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria with high potency, including MIC values in the nanomolar range. Molecular docking simulations demonstrated important intermolecular interactions between chalcones and residues from the enzymatic cavity of the enzyme DNA gyrase, one of the validated molecular targets in the development of new antibacterial agents.

The data presented demonstrate the potential of using chalcones in drug development programs with antibacterial properties, which may be useful to combat resistance, a worldwide public health problem.