Synthesis of Nα-protected formamides from amino acids using MgO nano catalyst: Study of molecular docking and antibacterial activity

Green synthesis of nano MgO particles and their application for the formylation of isocyanates of N-Fmoc/Cbz/Boc protected amino acids were reported. Nano magnesium oxide catalysed reaction of isocyanate with 96% formic acid has been established to obtain formamides. For this, the carboxyl group of protected amino acids were activated via mixed anhydride method and treated with NaN3. The formed azides were converted into its isocyanates through Curtius rearrangement and treated with HCOOH and catalytic amount of nano MgO. The advantages of this method were remarkably simple and economically low cost nano metal oxide under milder reaction conditions. Most importantly, MgO can be easily separated and other basic impurities were removed through a simple work-up. This protocol showed high efficiency in catalysing this transformation in a greener fashion. The molecular docking study of the synthesized compounds was performed against the macromolecules sortase-A and glucosamine 6-phosphate synthase to understand the binding interactions. The results of in vitro antibacterial activities of the synthesized compounds were supported by docking analysis.