To increase the antitubercular potency, we synthesized
a series
of novel pyrazolylpyrazoline derivatives (9a–p) using the one-pot multicomponent reaction of the substituted
heteroaryl aldehyde (3a,b), 2-acetyl pyrrole/thiazole
(4a,b), and substituted hydrazine hydrates
(5–8) in the presence of base NaOH
as a catalyst in ethanol as the solvent at room temperature. Substituted
heteroaryl aldehyde (3a,b) was synthesized
from 5-chloro-3-methyl-1-phenyl-1H-pyrazole-4-methyl-carbaldehyde
on protection with ethylene glycol followed by treatment with 4-amino
triazole/5-amino tetrazole and then deprotection using acid. The salient
features of the green protocol are the one-pot reaction, shorter reaction
time, and straightforward workup procedure. All of the compounds were
tested against Mycobacterium tuberculosis H37Rv, wherein compounds 9i, 9k, 9l, 9o, and 9p were found
to be most effective. The structures of newly synthesized compounds
were determined using spectral methods. Furthermore, molecular docking
investigations into the active site of mycobacterial InhA yielded
well-clustered solutions for these compounds’ binding modalities
producing a binding affinity in the range from −8.884 to −7.113.
Theoretical results were in good accord with the observed experimental
values. The docking score of the most active compound 9o was found to be −8.884, and the Glide energy was −61.144
kcal/mol. and it was found to accommodate well into the active site
of InhA, engaging in a network of bonded and nonbonded interactions.