Methicillin- and vancomycin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA & VRSA) infections are growing global health concerns. Structure-activity-relationships of phenylthiazoles as a new antimicrobial class have been addressed. We present 10 thiazole derivatives that exhibit strong activity against 18 clinical strains of MRSA and VRSA with acceptable PK profile. Three derivatives revealed an advantage over vancomycin by rapidly eliminating MRSA growth within six hours and no derivatives are toxic to HeLa cells at a concentration of 11 μg/mL.

Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infections are a leading cause of death among all fatalities caused by antibiotic-resistant bacteria. With the rise of increasing resistance to current antibiotics, new antimicrobials and treatment strategies are urgently needed. Thiazole compounds have been shown to possess potent antimicrobial activity. A lead thiazole 1 and a potent derivative 2 were synthesized and their activity in combination with glycopeptide antibiotics was determined against an array of MRSA and vancomycin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (VRSA) clinical isolates. Additionally, the anti-biofilm activity of the novel thiazoles was investigated against Staphylococcus epidermidis. Compound 2 behaved synergistically with vancomycin against MRSA and was able to re-sensitize VRSA to vancomycin, reducing its minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) by 512-fold in two strains. Additionally, both thiazole compounds were superior to vancomycin in significantly reducing S. epidermidis biofilm mass. Collectively the results obtained demonstrate compounds 1 and 2 possess potent antimicrobial activity alone or in combination with vancomycin against multidrug-resistant staphylococci and show potential for use in disrupting staphylococcal biofilm.

Pyrazoline derivatives have numerous prominent pharmacological effects, such as antimicrobial (antibacterial, antifungal, antiamoebic, antimycobacterial), anti-inflammatory, analgesic, antidepressant and anticancer. Further pharmacological effects include cannabinoid CB1 receptor antagonists, antiepileptic, antitrypanosomal, antiviral activity, MAO-inhibitory, antinociceptive activity, insecticidal, hypotensive, nitric oxide synthase inhibitor, antioxidant, steroidal and antidiabetic. Lastly, they also effect ACAT inhibition, urotensin II and somatostatin-5 receptors, TGF-β signal transduction inhibitors and neurocytotoxicity inhibitors activities. Many new pyrazoline derivatives have been synthesized and patented, but there are still new aspects to explore and work on.