Kyriakos Varnava

Dr. Kyriakos Varnava


Research Focus & Metrics

Academic Career Length

7Years (2020-Present)

(Calculated once Scilit publication data is synced: current year − year of first publication + 1)

Representative Publications

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11 June 2020 in Molecules
Verified
Journal Article
Open access
PDF file
David BarkerDavid Barker
David Barker
SLStephanie Lee
Stephanie Lee
KVKyriakos Varnava
Kyriakos Varnava
KSKevin Sparrow
Kevin Sparrow
MRMichelle van Rensburg
Michelle van Rensburg
Lisa PilkingtonLisa Pilkington
Lisa Pilkington
In an effort to gain more understanding on the structure activity relationship of pseudoceratidine 1, a di-bromo pyrrole spermidine alkaloid derived from the marine sponge Pseudoceratina purpurea that has been shown to exhibit potent biofouling, anti-fungal, antibacterial, and anti-malarial activities, a large series of 65 compounds that incorporated several aspects of structural variation has been synthesised through an efficient, divergent method that allowed for a number of analogues to be generated from common precursors. Subsequently, all analogues were assessed for their antibacterial activity against both Gram-positive (Staphylococcus aureus) and Gram-negative (Escherichia coli) bacteria. Overall, several compounds exhibited comparable or better activity than that of pseudoceratidine 1, and it was found that this class of compounds is generally more effective against Gram-positive than Gram-negative bacteria. Furthermore, altering several structural features allowed for the establishment of a comprehensive structure activity relationship (SAR), where it was concluded that several structural features are critical for potent anti-bacterial activity, including di-halogenation (preferable bromine, but chlorine is also effective) on the pyrrole ring, two pyrrolic units in the structure and with one or more secondary amines in the chain adjoining these units, with longer chains giving rise to better activities.