Direct synthesis, characterization, in vitro and in silico studies of simple chalcones as potential antimicrobial and antileishmanial agents

Chalcone represents a vital biosynthetic scaffold owing to its numerous therapeutic effects. The present study was intended to synthesize 17 chalcone derivatives ( 3a – q ) by direct coupling of substituted acetophenones and benzaldehyde. The target chalcones were characterized by spectroscopic analyses followed by their in vitro antimicrobial, and antileishmanial investigations with reference to standard drugs. The majority of the chalcones displayed good to excellent biological activities. Chalcone 3q (1000 µg ml −1 ) exhibited the most potent antibacterial effect with its zone of inhibition values of 30, 33 and 34 mm versus Staphylococcus aureus , Escherichia coli and Pseudomonas aeruginosa respectively. The results also confirmed chalcone 3q to be the most potent versus Leishmania major with the lowest IC 50 value of 0.59 ± 0.12 µg ml −1 . Chalcone 3i (500 µg ml −1 ) was noticed to be the most potent antifungal agent with its zone of inhibition being 29 mm against Candida albicans . Computational studies of chalcones 3i and 3q supported the preliminary in vivo results. The existence of the amino moiety and bromine atom on ring-A and methoxy moieties on ring-B caused better biological effects of the chalcones. In brief, the investigations reveal that chalcones ( 3i and 3q ) can be employed as building blocks to discover novel antimicrobial agents.