Microwave Irradiated Eco-friendly Synthesis of Pyrimidine Derivatives as Potential Antitubercular Agents

Abstract

The microwave irradiation method is applied for the efficient synthesis of pyrimidine derivatives. The synthetic protocol involves Knoevenagel condensation followed by Michael addition reaction and cyclization of equimolar quantities of aromatic aldehydes, ethyl cyanoacetate and guanidine in the presence of ethanolic NaOH solution to produce corresponding pyrimidine derivatives. The reaction mixture was allowed to reflux under microwave radiation at power level-2 for 7-12 min. The microwave heating technique offers a cleaner reaction with a shorter reaction time and improved product yield as compared to conventional synthesis. The newly synthesized compounds were characterized by their FT-IR, 1H NMR and LC-MS spectral data. All the synthesized pyrimidine derivatives were evaluated in vitro for their antitubercular activity in vitro by using the luciferase reporter phage (LRP) assay method. The antimycobacterial activity was determined in terms of the percent reduction in the relative light unit (RLU). The test compounds exhibited promising antitubercular activity against Mycobacterium tuberculosis H37Rv and clinical isolates, S, H, R and E resistant M. tuberculosis in comparison with the standard drug (isoniazid).