Novel imidazo[2,1-b][1,3,4]thiadiazole carrying rhodanine-3-acetic acid as potential antitubercular agents

The increase in the prevalence of multi drug-resistant and extensively drug-resistant strains of Mycobacterium tuberculosis case demonstrates the urgent need of discovering new promising compounds with antimycobacterial activity. As part of our research program and with a aim of identifying new antitubercular drug candidates, a new class of 2-(trifluoromethyl)-6-arylimidazo[2,1-b][1,3,4] thiadiazole derivatives has been synthesized by both conventional as well as microwave assisted method and evaluated for their in vitro antitubercular activity against M. tuberculosis H(37)Rv. Moreover, various drug-likeness properties of new compounds were predicted. Seven compounds from the series exhibited good activity with MIC in range 3.12-1.56 mu g/ml. The present study suggests that compounds 6b, 6c, 6d, 6e and 6f may serve as promising lead scaffolds for further generation of new anti-TB agents. (c) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.