Chalcone Derivatives as Antibacterial Agents: An Updated Overview

Area of Science:

• Medicinal Chemistry
• Pharmacology
• Natural Products

Background:

• Antimicrobial resistance is a growing global health crisis, projected by the World Health Organization (WHO) to cause 10 million deaths annually by 2050.
• Natural compounds like chalcones are being investigated as potential alternatives to conventional antibiotics due to their reported antibacterial properties.

Purpose of the Study:

• To conduct a comprehensive literature review of chalcone's antibacterial potential over the past five years.
• To explore the molecular mechanisms underlying chalcone's antibacterial activity through computational studies.

Main Methods:

• Bibliographic survey of scientific literature published within the last five years.
• In silico molecular docking simulations were performed to investigate interactions between chalcones and bacterial target enzymes.

Main Results:

• Recent studies report potent antibacterial activity of various chalcones against both Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria, with minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs) in the nanomolar range.
• Molecular docking revealed significant binding interactions between chalcones and the DNA gyrase enzyme, a key target for antibacterial drug development.

Conclusions:

• Chalcones represent a promising class of compounds for developing novel antibacterial agents.
• The findings support the continued exploration of chalcones in drug discovery programs to address the challenge of antimicrobial resistance.