Quinazoline derivatives are efficient chemosensitizers of antibiotic activity in Enterobacter aerogenes , Klebsiella pneumoniae and Pseudomonas aeruginosa resistant strains

Abstract Amongst the three series of quinazoline derivatives synthesised and studied in this work, some molecules increase the antibiotic susceptibility of Gram-negative bacteria presenting multidrug-resistant phenotypes. N -alkyl compounds induced an increase in the activity of chloramphenicol, nalidixic acid and sparfloxacin, which are substrates of the AcrAB-TolC and MexAB-OprM efflux pumps in clinical isolates. These molecules are able to increase the intracellular concentration of chloramphenicol in efflux pump-overproducing strains. Their activity depends on the antibiotic structure, suggesting that different sites may be involved for the recognition of substrates by a given efflux pump. Quinazoline molecules exhibiting a nitro functional group are more active, and structure–activity relationship studies may be undertaken to identify the pharmacophoric group involved in the AcrB and MexB affinity sites.