Tailoring selective triclosan azo-adducts: Design, synthesis, and anti-mycobacterial evaluation

A series of triclosan azo-adducts were synthesized to investigate their structure-activity relationship against Mycobacterium tuberculosis and non-tuberculous mycobacteria. The series' most potent compound was four and sixteen times more active than triclosan and rifabutin against drug-resistant Mycobacterium abscessus, respectively, while being less cytotoxic to human macrophages than triclosan on day one. Additionally, one of the azo-adducts was twice as efficient against M. tuberculosis as triclosan and twice as effective against Mycobacterium marinum as isoniazid. Furthermore, the synthesized azo-adducts were equally effective against M. abscessus strains overexpressing InhA, suggesting that these compounds work through a distinct mechanism.