Combining eugenol and dihydroeugenol with a piperazine moiety to create new antimicrobial agents that are effective against resistant species

Historically, the piperazine moiety has been demonstrated to possess pharmacophoric properties, and has subsequently been incorporated in many drugs that have antitumor, antimalarial, antiviral, antibacterial and antifungal properties. Derivatives of eugenol and dihydroeugenol have also been reported as being bioactive compounds. This study reports the synthesis of a range of eugenol/dihydroeugenol - piperazine derivatives which have been tested as antimicrobial compounds against Gram positive, Gram negative and rapid-growing mycobacteria (RGM). The rationale employed in the design of the structural pattern of these new derivatives, provides useful insights into the structure-activity relationships (SAR) of the series. Antimicrobial activity tests were extremely encouraging, with the majority of the synthesised compounds being more active than eugenol and dihydroeugenol starting materials. The antimicrobial potential was most notable against the Gram-negative species K. pneumoniae and P. aeruginosa, but there was also significant performance against the Gram-positive strains S. epidermidis and S. aureus and the Rapidly Growing Mycobacteria (RGM) strains tested. Tests using the synthesised compounds against multidrug-resistance clinical (MDR) isolates also showed high activity. The biofilm inhibition tests using M. fortuitum showed that all evaluated derivatives were able to inhibit biofilm formation even at low concentrations. In terms of structural-activity relationships; the results generated by this study demonstrate that the compounds with bulky substituents on the piperazine subunit were much more active than those with less bulky groups, or no groups. Importantly, the derivatives with a sulfonamide side chain were the most potent compounds. A further observation was that those compounds with a para-substituted benzenesulfonamide ring stand out, regardless of whether this substituent is a donor or an electron-withdrawing group. •Small, simple and new compounds synthesised from phenylpropanoids act as antibacterial candidates.•Eugenol and dihydroeugenol Mannich bases show activity against resistant clinical bacteria strains.•Mannich bases obtained from phenylpropanoids inhibit mycobacterial biofilm formation.