Synthesis, in vitro antimicrobial, antiproliferative, and QSAR studies of N-(substituted phenyl)-2/4-(1H-indol-3-ylazo)-benzamides

In this study, N-(substituted phenyl)-2/4-(1H-indol-3-ylazo)-benzamides (1-26) were synthesized and screened for their in vitro antibacterial (Gram positive; S. aureus, B. subtilis and Gram negative; E. coli) and antifungal (C. albicans and A. niger) activities. The antimicrobial activity results indicated that compound, 4-(1H-indol-3-ylazo)-N-(4-nitro-phenyl)-benzamide (12, pMIC(am) = 1.61) was the most potent. In general, it was found that the synthesized compounds were bacteriostatic/fungistatic in action except fungicidal for A. niger. The synthesized compounds were also evaluated for their antiproliferative activity against human colon cancer (HCT116), murine leukemia (P388), and breast cancer (MCF7) cell lines. The antiproliferative study results demonstrated 4-(1H-indol-3-ylazo)-N-p-tolyl-benzamide (2, IC50 = 0.0003 mu M/mL) and 4-(1H-indol-3-ylazo)-N-p-tolyl-benzamide (21, 0.0003 mu M/mL) as lead compounds for the development of novel antiproliferative agents. The QSAR studies indicated the importance of topological parameters, Kier's alpha second-order shape indice (kappa I +/-(2)) and Wiener index (W) in describing the antimicrobial activity of the synthesized compounds.