The synthesis of 22 2-aryl-1H-indoles, including 12 new compounds, has been achieved via Pd-or Rh-mediated methodologies, or selective electrophilic substitution. All three methods were based on elaborations from simple indole precursors. SAR studies on these indoles and 2-phenyl-1H-indole in S. aureus as NorA efflux pump inhibitors indicated 5-nitro-2-(3-methoxycarbonyl)phenyl-1H-indole was a slightly more potent inhibitor than the lead INF55. A promising new antibacterial lead compound against S. aureus, (2-phenyl-1H-indol-5-yl)-methanol, was also found.
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2-Arylindoles; NorA efflux pump inhibitors; AntibacterialEfflux pumps compromise the efficacy of a wide range of antibiotics by actively extruding them from bacterial cells. 1,2 The pumps can be expressed in many different forms in both Gram-positive 3 and Gram-negative bacteria 4 and for some species a variety of pumps may be present with different or overlapping substrates. For the important community and nosocomially acquired human pathogen Staphylococcus aureus a number of pumps have been identified, including NorA, which has been shown to play a role in the development of clinical multidrug resistance (MDR) by this organism. 5 One promising strategy for combating MDR in S. aureus is to treat infections with a combination of a NorA efflux pump inhibitor and a conventional antibiotic, with the pump inhibitor serving to restore the antibiotic's potency by reducing its efflux from bacterial cells. 6Reported classes of NorA inhibitors include flavones and flavonolignans, 7 pyrroloquinoxalines, 8 4-arylpyridine-3,5-dicarboxylate esters, 9 N-aryl ureas, 10 and indoles. 11From the indole class, 5-nitro-2-phenylindole (2, INF55) (Scheme 1) represents a promising lead structure capable of producing a 4-fold increase in S. aureus susceptibility to ciprofloxacin when co-administered with the antibiotic at a concentration of 1.5 µg/mL. 11 *Corresponding author. Tel.: +612 42214255; fax +612 42214287; email: john_bremner@uow.edu.au. Publisher's Disclaimer: This is a PDF file of an unedited manuscript that has been accepted for publication. As a service to our customers we are providing this early version of the manuscript. The manuscript will undergo copyediting, typesetting, and review of the resulting proof before it is published in its final citable form. Please note that during the production process errors may be discovered which could affect the content, and all legal disclaimers that apply to the journal pertain. potentiates berberine activity to the same degree at the higher concentration of 3.0 µg/mL).
NIH Public AccessThe current work discloses our latest systematic SAR exploration around the 2-aryl ring of INF55 and details the first experimental description of the effects of substituting the indole 5-nitro group. The goal of this study was to obtain a deeper understanding of the SAR of INF55 and analogues with a view to increasing potency against NorA in S. aureus. Furthermore, we sought to broaden our knowledge of substituent tolerance aro...