Design, synthesis and antifungal activity of novel α‐methylene‐γ‐butyrolactone derivatives containing benzothiophene moiety

BACKGROUND The discovery of agricultural fungicide candidates from natural products is one of the key strategies for developing environment friendly agricultural fungicides with high efficiency, high selectivity and unique modes‐of‐action. Based on previous work, a series of novel α‐methylene‐γ‐butyrolactone (MBL) derivatives containing benzothiophene moiety were designed and synthesized. RESULTS The majority of the proposed compounds displayed moderate to considerable antifungal efficacy against the tested pathogenic fungi and oomycetes, some exhibiting broad spectrum antifungal activity. Notably, compounds 2 (3‐F‐Ph) and 7 (4‐Cl‐Ph) showed excellent antifungal activity against Rhizoctonia with half maximal effective concentration (EC50) values of 0.94 and 0.99 mg L−1, respectively, comparable to the commercial fungicide tebuconazole (EC50 = 0.96 mg L−1), and also displayed significant inhibitory effects against V alsa mali with EC50 values of 2.26 and 1.67 mg L−1, respectively – better than famoxadone and carabrone. The in vivo protective and curative effects against R. solani of compound 2 were 57.2% and 53.7% at 100 mg L−1, respectively, which were equivalent to tebuconazole (51.6% and 52.4%). Further investigations found that compound 2 altered the ultrastructure of R. solani cell, significantly increased the relative conductivity of the cells, and reduced the activity of complex III in a dose‐dependent manner. Molecular docking results showed that compound 2 matched well with the Qo pocket. CONCLUSION The results revealed that MBL derivatives containing benzothiophene moiety are promising antifungal candidates and provide a new backbone structure for further optimization of novel fungicides. © 2024 Society of Chemical Industry. Several compounds exhibiting broad‐spectrum antifungal properties, compound 2 showed excellent activity against Rhizoctonia solani comparable to tebuconazole. α‐methylene‐γ‐butyrolactone derivatives containing the benzothiophene moiety are promising antifungal candidates.