Rhodanines, thiazolidine-2,4-diones and pseudothiohydantoins have become a very interesting class of heterocyclic compounds since the introduction of various glitazones and epalrestat into clinical use for the treatment of type II diabetes mellitus and diabetic complications, respectively. Chemical modifications of these heterocycles constantly result in compounds with a wide spectrum of pharmacological activities. 5-Arylidenerhodanines are frequently identified as potent hits in high throughput screening against various prokaryotic and eukaryotic targets. Synthesis of substituted rhodanines, based on high throughput screening hits, often leads to potent and selective modulators of targeted enzymes or receptors, which exert their pharmacological activities through different mechanisms of action. Due to various possibilities of chemical derivatization of the rhodanine ring, rhodanine-based compounds will probably remain a privileged scaffold in drug discovery. We have therefore reviewed their biological activities, mechanism of action, structure activity relationship and selectivity against other targets.

Bacterial DNA gyrase and topoisomerase IV are essential enzymes that control the topological state of DNA during replication and validated antibacterial drug targets. Starting from a library of marine alkaloid oroidin analogues, we identified low micromolar inhibitors of Escherichia coli DNA gyrase based on the 5,6,7,8-tetrahydroquinazoline and 4,5,6,7-tetrahydrobenzo[1,2-d]thiazole scaffolds. Structure-based optimization of the initial hits resulted in low nanomolar E. coli DNA gyrase inhibitors, some of which exhibited micromolar inhibition of E. coli topoisomerase IV and of Staphylococcus aureus homologues. Some of the compounds possessed modest antibacterial activity against Gram positive bacterial strains, while their evaluation against wild-type, impA and ΔtolC E. coli strains suggests that they are efflux pump substrates and/or do not possess the physicochemical properties necessary for cell wall penetration. Our study provides a rationale for optimization of this class of compounds toward balanced dual DNA gyrase and topoisomerase IV inhibitors with antibacterial activity.

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The modulation of DNA topology by DNA gyrase and topoisomerase IV, both of which are type IIA topoisomerases and found in most bacteria, is a function vital to DNA replication, repair and decatenation. Despite the potential for resistance development, DNA gyrase and/or topoisomerase IV have been proven to be and remain highly attractive targets in antibacterial drug discovery due to their potential for dual targeting. The search for new GyrA and/or ParC inhibitors that can overcome the increasing spread of multidrug-resistant bacteria has been successfully focused in the last decades on the modification of the known fluoroquinolone scaffold as primarily guided by ligand-based design via classical structure-activity relationship studies and the optimisation of physicochemical properties. This focus has resulted in several novel fluoroquinolones that have been introduced into clinical practice since 2000, and several of these new compounds are currently in different phases of clinical trials. Due to increasing resistance to fluoroquinolones, a significant part of DNA gyrase research has shifted to the discovery of new GyrB and/or ParE inhibitors, which are commonly identified through fragment-based design as well as virtual screening techniques and structure-based hit optimisation programs. This research often results in lead compounds with potent inhibitory activity and promising antibacterial activity profiles. Nevertheless, it is important to understand how different physicochemical properties (e.g., logD and total polar surface area) and different structural motifs influence the compounds' permeability to ensure the efficient discovery of potent, small-molecule antibacterials particularly against Gram-negative strains.

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