Synthesis and Biological Activity of Some New 5-Sulphanyl- 4-nitroimidazole Derivatives

A series of 5-sulphanyl derivatives of 1-Benzyl-2-alkyl-4-nitro-1H-imidazoles (5-9) were prepared by the coupling method of 3-(1-Benzyl-2-ethyl-4-nitro-1H-imidazole-5- ylsulfanyl)propanoic acid (4) with appropriate amino acid ester hydrochloride, in the presence of hydroxybenzotriazole (HOBT) and DCC. Compounds (10-12) and (13) were similarly synthesized using appropriate amino alcohols, and 1-substituted piperazine, respectively. The biological activities of some of these compounds were evaluated using Ames test and were found to be nonmutagenic. They exhibited antibacterial activity with MIC values in the range 31.2 - 62.5 μg/ml using different strains of bacteria. Compounds (5) and (12) have a potent antimutagenic activity against an oxidative mutagen in TA102 strain, a result which indicates that (5) and (12) may be considered as antioxidative agents.