Design, synthesis and biological evaluation of novel quinazoline-2,4-diones conjugated with different amino acids as potential chitin synthase inhibitors

A series of (2-(1-methyl-2,4-dioxo-1,2-dihydroquinazolin-3(4H)-yl) acetamido) acids) (6 a-m), (7) has been designed to inhibit the action of fungus chitin synthase enzyme (CHS). The synthesis of the designed compounds was carried out in four steps starting from the reaction between 1-methylquinazoline-2,4(1H,3H)-dione and ethyl chloroacetate to yield the ethyl acetate derivative. This ester was hydrolyzed to the corresponding carboxylic acid derivative that was then utilized to couple several amino acids getting the final designed compounds. The synthesized compounds were tested for their inhibition against CHS. Compound 7 showed the highest potency among others with minimum inhibitory concentration (IC50) of 0.166 mmol/L, while polyoxin B (the positive control) had IC50 of 0.17 mmol/L. The synthesized compounds were also evaluated for their in vitro antifungal activity using Aspergillus fumigates, Aspergillus flavus, Crytococcus neoformans and Candida albicans. Unfortunately, the 14 synthesized compounds showed lower in vitro activity compared to the used active controls. However, compound 6m and fluconazole have synergistic effect on Aspergillus flavus; Compounds 7 and fluconazole have synergistic effects on Aspergillus fumigates. [Display omitted] •Series of quinazoline-2,4-diones (6a-m) and (7) have been synthesized.•The new compounds were evaluated for their Chitin Synthase inhibitory activity.•Compounds 6c, 6l, 6m and 7 exhibited the most promising enzyme inhibitory activity.•Compound 7 with its dimeric structure showed the highest potency among others.