Synthesis, characterization, DFT studies, and molecular modeling of 2-(-(2-hydroxy-5-methoxyphenyl)-methylidene)-amino) nicotinic acid against some selected bacterial receptors

Despite the vast clinical applications associated with this group of drugs, the disturbing phenomenon of antimicrobial resistance to the drugs still present a global health challenge. In this research work, 2-{[(2-hydroxy-5-methoxyphenyl) methylidene]amino} nicotinic acid derived from o-phenylenediamine and 5-methoxysalicaldehyde was synthesized and spectroscopically characterized by using FT-IR, H-1-NMR, C-13-NMR, and GC-MS techniques. The synthesized complex was screened against some microbes in order to establish its potential antimicrobial activity, using some known drugs as reference (ampicillin). The results obtained indicated that the Schiff base exhibited antimicrobial action against all the tested microbes except Candidas albicans isolate, which exhibited zero diameter zone of inhibition. The theoretical investigations of the synthesized compounds were computed using density functional theory (DFT) at the B3LYP/6-31 + G(d,P) level of theory and in silico molecular docking simulation. The conclusion that can be drawn by comparing binding affinity energies and binding poses of the studied compound and the standard drug (ampicillin) is that the molecular docking analysis results are in good agreement with in vitro analysis of the synthesized compound.

Automated summary

In this study, a compound was synthesized and found to have potential antimicrobial activity through experimental and computational analysis, with results consistent with molecular docking analysis.