The outbreak of the COVID‐19 pandemic represents an ongoing healthcare emergency responsible for more than 3.4 million deaths worldwide. COVID‐19 is the disease caused by SARS‐CoV‐2, a virus that targets not only the lungs but also the cardiovascular system. COVID‐19 can manifest with a wide range of clinical manifestations, from mild symptoms to severe forms of the disease, characterized by respiratory failure due to severe alveolar damage. Several studies investigated the underlying mechanisms of the severe lung damage associated with SARS‐CoV‐2 infection and revealed that the respiratory failure associated with COVID‐19 is the consequence not only of acute respiratory distress syndrome but also of macro‐ and microvascular involvement. New observations show that COVID‐19 is an endothelial disease, and the consequent endotheliopathy is responsible for inflammation, cytokine storm, oxidative stress, and coagulopathy. In this review, we show the central role of endothelial dysfunction, inflammation, and oxidative stress in the COVID‐19 pathogenesis and present the therapeutic targets deriving from this endotheliopathy.

The global spread of bacterial resistance to drugs used in therapy requires new potent and safe antimicrobial agents. DNA gyrases represent important targets in drug discovery. Schiff bases, thiazole, and triazole derivatives are considered key scaffolds in medicinal chemistry. Fifteen thiazolyl-triazole Schiff bases were evaluated for their antibacterial activity, measuring the growth inhibition zone diameter, the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC), and the minimum bactericidal concentration (MBC), against Gram-positive (Staphylococcus aureus, Listeria monocytogenes) and Gram-negative (Escherichia coli, Salmonella typhimurium, Pseudomonas aeruginosa) bacteria. The inhibition of S. aureus and S. typhimurium was modest. Compounds B1, B2, and B9 showed a similar effect as ciprofloxacin, the antimicrobial reference, against L. monocytogenes. B10 displayed a better effect. Derivatives B1, B5–7, B9, and B11–15 expressed MIC values lower than the reference, against L. monocytogenes. B5, B6, and B11–15 strongly inhibited the growth of P. aeruginosa. All compounds were subjected to an in silico screening of the ADMET (absorption, distribution, metabolism, elimination, toxicity) properties. Molecular docking was performed on the gyrA and gyrB from L. monocytogenes. The virtual screening concluded that thiazolyl-triazole Schiff base B8 is the best drug-like candidate, satisfying requirements for both safety and efficacy, being more potent against the bacterial gyrA than ciprofloxacin.

New series of hydrazones 5–18 were synthesized, in good yields, by reacting 4-methyl-2-(4-(trifluoromethyl)phenyl)thiazole-5-carbohydrazide with differently substituted benzaldehyde. The resulting compounds were characterized via elemental analysis, physico-chemical and spectral data. An antimicrobial screening was done, using Gram (+), Gram (−) bacteria and one fungal strain. Tested molecules displayed moderate-to-good growth inhibition activity. 2,2-Diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazide assay was used to test the antioxidant properties of the compounds. Monohydroxy (14–16), para-fluorine (13) and 2,4-dichlorine (17) derivatives exhibited better free-radical scavenging ability than the other investigated molecules.

A series of 10 new N-phenyl-4-(4-(thiazol-2-yl)-phenyl)-thiazol-2-amine derivatives (3a–j) and 4 new 5-(2-(phenylamino)-thiazol-4-yl)-benzamide ethers (3′a–d) were synthesized from 4-(2-phenylamino)-thiazol-4-yl)-benzothioamide and 2-hydroxy-5-(2-(phenylamino)-thiazol-4-yl)-benzamide with several α-halo-ketones, by the Hantzsch reaction. All compounds were characterized by elemental analysis and spectral data (MS, FT-IR and NMR). The final 14 substances were screened for antimicrobial activity, against two Gram-positive, one Gram-negative bacterial strains, and two fungal strains. Some of the synthesized molecules were more potent than the reference drugs, against the pathogenic strains used. The antibacterial activity of compounds was more pronounced against the Gram-positive strains. Compound 3e manifested the highest growth inhibitory effect against all pathogens tested (MIC of 31.25 μg/mL against the Gram-positive bacterial strains and 7.81 μg/mL against the Candida strains)

In the context of there being a limited number of clinically approved drugs for the treatment of Candida sp.-based infections, along with the rapid development of resistance to the existing antifungals, two novel series of 4-phenyl-1,3-thiazole and 2-hydrazinyl-4-phenyl-1,3-thiazole derivatives were synthesized and tested in vitro for their anti-Candida potential. Two compounds (7a and 7e) showed promising inhibitory activity against the pathogenic C. albicans strain, exhibiting substantially lower MIC values (7.81 μg/mL and 3.9 μg/mL, respectively) as compared with the reference drug fluconazole (15.62 μg/mL). Their anti-Candida activity is also supported by molecular docking studies, using the fungal lanosterol C14α-demethylase as the target enzyme. The interaction of the most biologically active synthesized compound 7e with bovine serum albumin was investigated through fluorescence spectroscopy, and the obtained data suggested that this molecule might efficiently bind carrier proteins in vivo in order to reach the target site.