Construction, petro-collecting/dispersing capacities, antimicrobial activity, and molecular docking study of new cationic surfactantsulfonamide conjugates

Surfactants with their diverse activities have been recently involved in controlling the spread of new coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic as they are capable of disrupting the membrane surrounding the virus. Using hybrids approach, we constructed a novel series of cationic surfactant-sulfonamide conjugates (3a-g) through quaternization of the as-prepared sulfonamide derivatives (2a-g) with n-hexadecyl iodide followed by structural characterization by spectroscopy (IR and NMR). Being collective properties required in petroleum-processing environment, the petro-collecting/dispersing capacities on the surface of waters with different degrees of mineralization, and the antimicrobial performance against microbes and sulfate-reducing bacteria (SRB) that mitigate microbiological corrosion were investigated for the synthesized conjugates. Among these conjugates, 3g (2.5% aq. solution) exhibited the strongest ability to disperse the thin petroleum film on the seawater surface, whereas K-D is 95.33% after 96 h. In diluted form, 3f collected the petroleum layer on distilled water surface (K-max = 32.01) for duration exceeds 4 days. Additionally, almost all compounds revealed high potency and comparable action with standard antimicrobials, especially 3b and 3f, which emphasize their role as potential biocides. Regarding biocidal activity against SRB, 3g causes a significant reduction in the bacterial count from 2.8 x 10(6) cells/mL to Nil. Moreover, the conducted molecular docking study confirms the strong correlation between RNA polymerase binding with bioactivity against microbes over other studied proteins (threonine synthase and cyclooxygenase-2). (C) 2021 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Automated summary

A series of novel cationic surfactant-sulfonamide conjugates were synthesized and studied for their dispersing capacity on petroleum film and antimicrobial performance. Some of these conjugates demonstrated strong ability to disperse or collect petroleum, as well as significant antimicrobial activity.