Synthesis and antifungal properties of arginine-containing hemin derivatives

Due to a steadily increasing number of clinical isolates of microscopic fungi that show resistance to conventionally administered antimycotics, the specialists involved have constantly been searching for novel fungicidal agents among various classes of chemical compounds. The present study was aimed at synthesizing and assessing the activity of arginine-containing hemin derivatives against strains of Candida albicans and Cryptococcus neoformans insensitive to commonly used antifungal agents. A hemin conjugate with a branched arginine-containing peptide was shown to exhibit in vitro fungicidal activity at a concentration of 25 mu M and inhibit the growth of the yeast-like fungus Candida albicans at concentrations as low as 12.5 mu M.