3,11-Dihydroxy and 3,11-dioxo triterpenoids of the fusidane series reacted with acrylonitrile in 1,4-dioxane in the presence of alkali and phase-transfer catalyst to give mono- and bis(2-cyanoethoxy)...

Fusidic acid (FA) is an antibiotic with high activity against Staphylococcus aureus; it has been used in clinical practice since the 1960s. However, the narrow antimicrobial spectrum of FA limits its application in the treatment of bacterial infections. In this regard, this work aims both at the study of the antimicrobial effect of a number of FA amines and at the identification of their potential biological targets. In this way, FA analogues containing aliphatic and aromatic amino groups and biogenic polyamine, spermine and spermidine, moieties at the C-3 atom, were synthesized (20 examples). Pyrazinecarboxamide-substituted analogues exhibit a high antibacterial activity against S. aureus (MRSA) with MIC ≤ 0.25 μg/mL. Spermine and spermidine derivatives, along with activity against S. aureus, also inhibit the growth and reproduction of Gram-negative bacteria Escherichia coli, Acinetobacter baumannii, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and have a high fungicidal effect against Candida albicans and Cryptococcus neoformans. The study of the membrane activity demonstrated that the spermidine- and spermine-containing compounds are able to immerse into membranes and disorder the lipidsleading to a detergent effect. Moreover, spermine-based compounds are also able to form ion-permeable pores in the lipid bilayers mimicking the bacterial membranes. Using molecular docking, inhibition of the protein synthesis elongation factor EF-G was proposed, and polyamine substituents were shown to make the greatest contribution to the stability of the complexes of fusidic acid derivatives with biological targets. This suggests that the antibacterial effect of the obtained compounds may be associated with both membrane activity and inhibition of the elongation factor EF-G.

The Fischer reaction of 3,11-dioxo derivatives of fusidic acid and its esters with phenylhydrazine chemoselectively occurred at the 3-position with the formation of indole-fused fusidane triterpenoids. The reaction with 3-chlorophenylhydrazine under similar conditions afforded mixtures of isomeric 6- and 4-chloro derivatives at a ratio of 3:2. 2,4-Dinitrophenylhydrazine reacted with the same fusidane diketones to give the corresponding hydrazones at the 3-oxo group. Biological screening of the synthesized compounds revealed derivatives exhibiting a high antibacterial activity against methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus with a minimum inhibitory concentration of ≤0.25 μg/mL.