Exploring the Biodiversity of Substituted Imidazole: Novel Synthetic Strategy of Polysubstituted Imidazole as...

The exponential rise in resistance to pesticides and conventional antibiotics is another important factor propelling the development of novel medicines and substances with insecticidal efficacy. One approach to this experiment is to look at novel families of insecticidal compounds with different mechanisms of action. Consequently, a one-pot four-component synthesis involving benzil, aryl carbaldehydes, CH₃COONH₄ and N,N-dimethylpropane-1,3-diamine, and/or 1-aminopropan-2-ol was used to successfully synthesize polysubstituted imidazoles 5a-5j. The usage of p-toluenesulfonic acid as an acidic catalyst and microwave irradiation considerably increased the reaction rate, resulting in the synthesis of the target imidazoles in excellent yields in a short reaction time (4-7 min). The assumed reaction mechanism showed the formation steps of multi-substituted imidazole compounds 5a-5j and the role of p-toluenesulfonic acid in the activation of the reaction. With an LC₅₀ value of 1.15 mg/L, target compound 5g exhibits the best insecticidal bioactivity. Every molecule was shown to have antibacterial action; however, compounds 5a-5j displayed the widest range of activity. This study advocates for the creation of compounds with potential applications as insecticidal or antibacterial drugs in the future.