Multi-Target In Silico Evaluation of New 2-Pyrazolines as Antimicrobial Agents

The world today is being ravaged by the emergence and re-emergence of microbial infections caused by antimicrobial-resistant strains, brought about primarily by the frequent and perhaps unnecessary use of antimicrobial agents. A need therefore arises to develop new antimicrobial drugs that can comba...

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Main Authors: Zukhruf Salami, Asmau Hamza, Abdullahi Idris, Yusuf Jimoh
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2025-03-01
Series:Chemistry Proceedings
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Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/2673-4583/16/1/110
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author Zukhruf Salami
Asmau Hamza
Abdullahi Idris
Yusuf Jimoh
author_facet Zukhruf Salami
Asmau Hamza
Abdullahi Idris
Yusuf Jimoh
author_sort Zukhruf Salami
collection DOAJ
description The world today is being ravaged by the emergence and re-emergence of microbial infections caused by antimicrobial-resistant strains, brought about primarily by the frequent and perhaps unnecessary use of antimicrobial agents. A need therefore arises to develop new antimicrobial drugs that can combat these pathogens resistant to currently available antibiotics. This present study has adopted a multi-enzyme in silico approach in evaluating new 2-pyrazolines as antimicrobial agents, targeting and aiming to inhibit three pivotal enzymes in the bacteria’s life cycle. A library of 2-pyrazolines was tailored to achieve the desired activity. The library of compounds and amoxicillin, a standard antimicrobial drug, were docked into the molecular target enzymes. They were also subjected to toxicity and drug-likeness tests, using PROTOX and swissADME, respectively. A moderate toxicity profile was indicated, as more than 90% of the ligands were in ProTox class 4. The majority exhibited advantageous ADME characteristics. A significant number of them demonstrated a binding affinity for the target proteins that was stronger than both the native ligand and the binding affinity of amoxicillin. Ligands 30, 20, and 8 are the notable ones across all target enzymes. These results suggest that these novel ligands may be powerful inhibitors, particularly when it comes to interfering with the formation of bacterial cell walls, folic acid, and nucleotide metabolism. Additional in vivo and in vitro research is required to confirm these results and evaluate their therapeutic potential.
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institution Kabale University
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publishDate 2025-03-01
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spelling doaj-art-e017a23b55db4f23b9d05a4ad4e408a22025-08-20T03:27:21ZengMDPI AGChemistry Proceedings2673-45832025-03-0116111010.3390/ecsoc-28-20226Multi-Target In Silico Evaluation of New 2-Pyrazolines as Antimicrobial AgentsZukhruf Salami0Asmau Hamza1Abdullahi Idris2Yusuf Jimoh3Pharmaceutical and Medicinal Chemistry Department, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria 810107, NigeriaPharmaceutical and Medicinal Chemistry Department, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria 810107, NigeriaPharmaceutical and Medicinal Chemistry Department, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria 810107, NigeriaPharmaceutical and Medicinal Chemistry Department, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria 810107, NigeriaThe world today is being ravaged by the emergence and re-emergence of microbial infections caused by antimicrobial-resistant strains, brought about primarily by the frequent and perhaps unnecessary use of antimicrobial agents. A need therefore arises to develop new antimicrobial drugs that can combat these pathogens resistant to currently available antibiotics. This present study has adopted a multi-enzyme in silico approach in evaluating new 2-pyrazolines as antimicrobial agents, targeting and aiming to inhibit three pivotal enzymes in the bacteria’s life cycle. A library of 2-pyrazolines was tailored to achieve the desired activity. The library of compounds and amoxicillin, a standard antimicrobial drug, were docked into the molecular target enzymes. They were also subjected to toxicity and drug-likeness tests, using PROTOX and swissADME, respectively. A moderate toxicity profile was indicated, as more than 90% of the ligands were in ProTox class 4. The majority exhibited advantageous ADME characteristics. A significant number of them demonstrated a binding affinity for the target proteins that was stronger than both the native ligand and the binding affinity of amoxicillin. Ligands 30, 20, and 8 are the notable ones across all target enzymes. These results suggest that these novel ligands may be powerful inhibitors, particularly when it comes to interfering with the formation of bacterial cell walls, folic acid, and nucleotide metabolism. Additional in vivo and in vitro research is required to confirm these results and evaluate their therapeutic potential.https://www.mdpi.com/2673-4583/16/1/1102-pyrazolinesmulti-targetantimicrobial agentsantimicrobial resistance
spellingShingle Zukhruf Salami
Asmau Hamza
Abdullahi Idris
Yusuf Jimoh
Multi-Target In Silico Evaluation of New 2-Pyrazolines as Antimicrobial Agents
Chemistry Proceedings
2-pyrazolines
multi-target
antimicrobial agents
antimicrobial resistance
title Multi-Target In Silico Evaluation of New 2-Pyrazolines as Antimicrobial Agents
title_full Multi-Target In Silico Evaluation of New 2-Pyrazolines as Antimicrobial Agents
title_fullStr Multi-Target In Silico Evaluation of New 2-Pyrazolines as Antimicrobial Agents
title_full_unstemmed Multi-Target In Silico Evaluation of New 2-Pyrazolines as Antimicrobial Agents
title_short Multi-Target In Silico Evaluation of New 2-Pyrazolines as Antimicrobial Agents
title_sort multi target in silico evaluation of new 2 pyrazolines as antimicrobial agents
topic 2-pyrazolines
multi-target
antimicrobial agents
antimicrobial resistance
url https://www.mdpi.com/2673-4583/16/1/110
work_keys_str_mv AT zukhrufsalami multitargetinsilicoevaluationofnew2pyrazolinesasantimicrobialagents
AT asmauhamza multitargetinsilicoevaluationofnew2pyrazolinesasantimicrobialagents
AT abdullahiidris multitargetinsilicoevaluationofnew2pyrazolinesasantimicrobialagents
AT yusufjimoh multitargetinsilicoevaluationofnew2pyrazolinesasantimicrobialagents