Acetylenic Sulfones and Acetylenic Sulfonamide Analogs: A Novel and Preferable Antimicrobial Drugs Based on Computational Strategies

Abstract

This study was done to report virtual screening and molecular docking studies of sulfacetamide derivatives as new antimicrobial drugs, belonging to the pharmacological class of sulfonamides. For this purpose, sulfonamide functional groups from a library of chemical structures were converted into acetylenic sulfone and acetylenic sulfonamide functional groups to introduce a new class of antimicrobial drugs with mechanisms of action of dihydropteroate synthase inhibitors (DHPS). Initially, a library of compounds containing approximately 170 acetylenic sulfone ligands was created by similarity search method, and a library containing 170 acetylenic sulfonamide ligands was designed to be administered as new inhibitors. After designing, their molecular docking energies were calculated by three software programs including Arguslab4.0.1, AutoDock Vina and Molegro Virtual Docker and the results were compared in terms of binding energy. Although acetylenic sulfonamide compounds showed better results, acceptable results were observed in both groups of compounds. Adsorption, distribution, metabolism and excretion (ADME) properties of acetylenic sulfones/acetylenic sulfonamide analogs were also analyzed using the admetSAR program. These new derivatives can be used in drug improvement processes for the treatment of antibacterial infections after performing further studies.