Metronidazole (MTZ), the FDA-approved drug against Trichomonas vaginalis (TV), is being challenged seriously by drug resistance, while its inertness to sperm makes it ineffective as a vaginal contraceptive. Thirteen piperidine dithiocarbamate hybrids of 2-(2-methyl-5-nitro-1H-imidazol-1-yl)ethane (8-20) were designed to potentiate the MTZ framework against drug resistance and sperm. New compounds were 1.2-12.1 times more effective against MTZ-susceptible and -resistant strains of TV. All of the compounds exhibited high safety toward cervical (HeLa) cells and Lactobacillus. Thirty-eight compounds were scrutinized by CoMFA and CoMSIA techniques of 3D quantitative structure-activity relationship. Good predictive r pred (2) values for CoMFA and CoMSIA models reflected the robustness of the predictive ability. This was validated by designing five new analogues (46-50), which were potently microbicidal (3-10 and 10-20 times against MTZ-susceptible and -resistant TV, respectively) and spermicidal. This in vitro study may have significant clinical relevance, which could become evident in due course.

A facile synthesis of S-(2-thioxo-1,3-dithiolan-4-yl)methyl dialkylcarbamothioates (3) and S-thiiran-2-ylmethyl dialkylcarbamothioate (5) has been reported by the reaction of 5-(chloromethyl)-1,3-oxathiolane-2-thione (1) with sodium dialkylcarbamodithioate (2) and dialkylamine (4), respectively, through intermolecular O-S rearrangement in water. A plausible mechanism of formation of the title compounds has also been proposed.

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