Indole/isatin‐containing hybrids as potential antibacterial agents

The emergence and worldwide spread of drug‐resistant bacteria have already posed a serious threat to human life, creating the urgent need to develop potent and novel antibacterial drug candidates with high efficacy. Indole and isatin (indole‐2,3‐dione) present a wide structural and mechanistic diversity, so their derivatives possess various pharmacological properties and occupy a salient place in the development of new drugs. Indole/isatin‐containing hybrids, which demonstrate a promising activity against a panel of clinically important Gram‐positive and Gram‐negative bacteria, are privileged scaffolds for the discovery of novel antibacterial candidates. This review, covering articles published between January 2015 and May 2020, focuses on the development and structure–activity relationship (SAR) of indole/isatin‐containing hybrids with potential application for fighting bacterial infections, to facilitate further rational design of novel drug candidates. Indole/isatin‐containing hybrids show promising activity against many clinically important Gram‐positive and Gram‐negative bacteria and are thus privileged scaffolds for the discovery of novel antibacterial candidates. This review, covering articles published between January 2015 and May 2020, summarizes the recent advances in the development of indole/isatin‐containing hybrids as potential antibacterial agents.