N-Aryl Amino Acids as Potential Antibacterial Agents

The resistance of bacteria to current antibiotic drugs and the re-occurrence of different ailments after several therapeutic protocols continue to be a cause for concern. Arylated amino acids are vital synthons to many compounds; they serve as essential building blocks in the synthesis of nitrogen heterocycles with various biological activities. This research reports on the synthesis of some N-aryl amino acids and evaluates their antibacterial activities. The N-aryl amino acids 3a–3j were obtained by reacting different 4-substituted fluorobenzene 1a–1d with different amino acids 2a–2g via a metal-free base-induced aryl amination reaction of aryl halides. The antibacterial activities of the synthesized compounds were evaluated against eight bacterial strains (Four Gram-positive, Bacillus subtilis (ATCC 6633), Streptococcus pneumonia (ATCC 33400), Staphylococcus aureus (ATCC 25923), and Staphylococcus epidermidis (ATCC 14990), and four Gram-negative, Enterobacter cloacae (ATCC 43560), Escherichia coli (ATCC 25922), Proteus mirabilis (ATCC 43071), and Klebsiella oxytoca (ATCC 13182) using the agar well diffusion method with streptomycin as a reference drug. The biological screening indicates that the synthesized compounds 3a, 3e, and 3j have promising broad-spectrum antibacterial potential, as the N-aryl amino acid displayed activity that was comparable to the standard drug against Streptococcus pneumonia, Escherichia coli, and Proteus mirabilis.