Antimicrobial activity of 8-hydroxyquinoline and transition metal complexes

Abstract

Heterocyclic compounds like 8-hydroxyquinoline (8HQ) and derivatives have been found in natural products and therapeutics. Herein 8HQ and metal complexes of 8HQ-5-substituted (X) uracils, X = I, N02 (1-6) were investigated for their antimicrobial potency. The complexes 1 -6 exhibited growth inhibition against many strains of gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria with minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs) of 575.71-718.76 uM. The investigated compound 8HQ was shown to be a very strong antimicrobial agent with the MIC of 27.58 uM that comparable to ampicillin (MIC 26.93 uM), the reference drug. The activity of 8HQ mostly was observed for resistant pathogens, gram- positive bacteria e.g. Staphylococcus aureus, Enterococcus faecalis and diploid fungus, Candida albicans. The findings reveal 8HQ as the very potent antimicrobial agent and a series of 8HQ transition metal complexes as novel antimicrobials as well as the applications of 8HQ for the design and synthesis of new and potential therapeutic lead compounds. © 2013 Asian Network for Scientific Information.