Design, synthesis, bioassay, and molecular docking of novel thiazolo[3,2-a]pyrimidine derivatives as insecticidal and antimicrobial agents.
6 affiliations
- 1Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, Assiut University Assiut 71516 Egypt [email protected].
- 2Botany and Microbiology Department, Faculty of Science, Assiut University Assiut Egypt.
- 3Institute of Chemistry, Academia Sinica Taipei 115 Taiwan.
- 4Cotton Leafworm Research Department, Plant Protection Research Institute, Agricultural Research Center Giza Egypt.
- 5Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, New Valley University El-Kharga 72511 Egypt [email protected].
- 6Department of Pesticide Chemistry and Technology, Faculty of Agriculture, Alexandria University Aflaton St., 21545, El-Shatby Alexandria Egypt.
Abstract
A new series of fused thiazolo[3,2-a]pyrimidine derivatives was designed, synthesized, and comprehensively characterized with the aim of discovering potent insecticidal and antimicrobial agents. The synthetic strategy commenced with the regioselective S-alkylation of ethyl 4-(4-methoxyphenyl)-6-methyl-2-thioxo-1,2,3,4-tetrahydropyrimidine-5-carboxylate (1) with bromomalononitrile to afford the key o-aminothiazolo[3,2-a]pyrimidine carbonitrile (2), which was subsequently elaborated via sequential condensation with triethyl orthoformate and hydrazine hydrate into the tricyclic amino-imino pyrimido[4',5':4,5]thiazolo[3,2-a]pyrimidine (4). Divergent cyclocondensation of 4 with triethyl orthoformate, acetylacetone, or benzaldehyde furnished the tetracyclic [1,2,4]triazolo-fused analogues (5-7). All newly synthesized compounds were unequivocally characterized by elemental analysis, FT-IR, 1H and 13C NMR spectroscopy, and mass spectrometry. The antimicrobial activity of the synthesized compounds was evaluated against an array of bacterial and fungal strains using the agar disc diffusion method, while their insecticidal efficacy was assessed against fourth-instar larvae of the cotton leafworm Spodoptera littoralis under laboratory conditions. Compound 4 exhibited the broadest antimicrobial spectrum, whereas compound 5 produced the largest inhibition zone (20.33 mm) against Fusarium oxysporum. In the insecticidal bioassay, compound 7 was the most potent, with an LC50 of 2727.042 mg L-1. Molecular docking studies against acetylcholinesterase (AChE) and cytochrome P450 monooxygenases (CYP450) identified compound 7 as the top-ranked binder for both targets (binding energies of -8.6 and -8.2 kcal mol-1, respectively), establishing a robust structure-activity relationship consistent with the biological data. These findings position the synthesized thiazolo/triazolo-pyrimidine scaffolds as promising lead structures for the development of next-generation insecticidal and antimicrobial agents.
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BibTeX
@article{mohamed2026design,
title = {{Design, synthesis, bioassay, and molecular docking of novel thiazolo[3,2-a]pyrimidine derivatives as insecticidal and antimicrobial agents.}},
author = {Shereen A Mohamed and Remon M Zaki and Amal W Danial and Adel M Kamal El-Dean and Abdelreheem A Saddik and Amany D Abd-Elnabi and Mahmoud S Tolba and Mohamed R Fouad},
journal = {RSC advances},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.1039/d6ra08710h},
url = {https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42953644},
note = {CC BY-NC},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Design, synthesis, bioassay, and molecular docking of novel thiazolo[3,2-a]pyrimidine derivatives as insecticidal and antimicrobial agents.
AU - Shereen A Mohamed
AU - Remon M Zaki
AU - Amal W Danial
AU - Adel M Kamal El-Dean
AU - Abdelreheem A Saddik
AU - Amany D Abd-Elnabi
AU - Mahmoud S Tolba
AU - Mohamed R Fouad
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/28
JO - RSC advances
DO - 10.1039/d6ra08710h
UR - https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42953644
AB - A new series of fused thiazolo[3,2-a]pyrimidine derivatives was designed, synthesized, and comprehensively characterized with the aim of discovering potent insecticidal and antimicrobial agents. The synthetic strategy commenced with the regioselective S-alkylation of ethyl 4-(4-methoxyphenyl)-6-methyl-2-thioxo-1,2,3,4-tetrahydropyrimidine-5-carboxylate (1) with bromomalononitrile to afford the key o-aminothiazolo[3,2-a]pyrimidine carbonitrile (2), which was subsequently elaborated via sequential condensation with triethyl orthoformate and hydrazine hydrate into the tricyclic amino-imino pyrimido[4',5':4,5]thiazolo[3,2-a]pyrimidine (4). Divergent cyclocondensation of 4 with triethyl orthoformate, acetylacetone, or benzaldehyde furnished the tetracyclic [1,2,4]triazolo-fused analogues (5-7). All newly synthesized compounds were unequivocally characterized by elemental analysis, FT-IR, 1H and 13C NMR spectroscopy, and mass spectrometry. The antimicrobial activity of the synthesized compounds was evaluated against an array of bacterial and fungal strains using the agar disc diffusion method, while their insecticidal efficacy was assessed against fourth-instar larvae of the cotton leafworm Spodoptera littoralis under laboratory conditions. Compound 4 exhibited the broadest antimicrobial spectrum, whereas compound 5 produced the largest inhibition zone (20.33 mm) against Fusarium oxysporum. In the insecticidal bioassay, compound 7 was the most potent, with an LC50 of 2727.042 mg L-1. Molecular docking studies against acetylcholinesterase (AChE) and cytochrome P450 monooxygenases (CYP450) identified compound 7 as the top-ranked binder for both targets (binding energies of -8.6 and -8.2 kcal mol-1, respectively), establishing a robust structure-activity relationship consistent with the biological data. These findings position the synthesized thiazolo/triazolo-pyrimidine scaffolds as promising lead structures for the development of next-generation insecticidal and antimicrobial agents.
SN - 2046-2069
ER -