Biological activity of 4-hydroxyisophthalic acid derivatives. III. Variously substituted anilides with antimicrobial...

A series of 1,3-bis-anilides of 4-hydroxyisophthalic acid was prepared and investigated for antibacterial and antifungal activities. The prepared compounds (I-XIV), of the general formula (A), where Xn = 2-NO2 (I); 2,4-(NO2)2 (II); 2,4-NO2, Cl (III); 2,4-NO2,CF3 (IV); 3,4-NO2,Cl (V); 2,4-Cl,NO2 (VI); 2,5-Cl,NO2 (VII); 2,4,6-Cl,NO2,Cl (VIII); 2,4-Br, NO2 (IX); 2-CF3 (X); 3-CF3 (XI); 2,5-Cl,CF3 (XII); 2,5-CH3,Cl (XIII); 3,4-Cl,CH3 (XIV), were obtained in satisfactory yield by reacting 4-hydroxyisophthalic acid with the appropriate substituted aniline. (Formula: see text). The prepared compounds were tested for antimicrobial activity by a disk-diffusion assay (Kirby-Bauer modified). The organisms used were the following: S. aureus, B. subtilis, B. anthracis, M. paratuberculosis 607, E. coli Bb, S. typhi, S. typhimurium, S. paratyphi B, Pr. vulgaris, K1. pneumoniae, Ps. aeruginosa, C. albicans, and A. niger. The results of the antimicrobial screening showed that a number of substituted anilides exhibited varying degrees of activity against Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria, and fungi, nitro-halogen-derivatives being the most interesting members of the series.