Synthesis and biological evaluation of fluconazole analogs with triazole-modified scaffold as potent antifungal agents

In order to find new azole antifungals, we have recently designed a series of triazole alcohols in which one of the 1,2,4-triazol-1-yl group in fluconazole structure has been replaced with 4-amino-5-aryl-3-mercapto-1,2,4-triazole motif. In this paper, we focused on the structural refinement of the primary lead, by removing the amino group from the structure to achieve 5-aryl-3-mercapto-1,2,4-triazole derivatives 10a-i and 11a-i. The in vitro antifungal susceptibility testing of title compounds demonstrated that most compounds had potent inhibitory activity against Candida species. Among them, 5-(2,4-dichlorophenyl)-triazole analogs 10h and 11h with MIC values of <0.01 to 0.5 mu g/mL were 4-256 times more potent than fluconazole against Candida species. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.