1,2,3-Triazoles of 8-Hydroxyquinoline and HBT: Synthesis and Studies (DNA Binding, Antimicrobial, Molecular Docking, ADME, and DFT)

A new series of 1,2,3-triazole hybrids containing either 2- or 4-hydroxyphenyl benzothiazole (2- or 4-HBT) and naphthalen-1-ol or 8-hydroxyquinoline (8-HQ) was synthesized in high yields and fully characterized. In vitro DNA binding studies with herring fish sperm DNA (hs-DNA) showed that quinoline- and 2-HBT-linked 1,2,3-triazoles of shorter alkyl linkers such as 6a are better with a high binding affinity (3.90 × 105 L mol-1) with hs-DNA as compared to naphthol- and 4-HBT-linked 1,2,3-triazoles bound to longer alkyl linkers. Molecular docking of most active 1,2,3-triazoles 6a-f showed high binding energy of 6a (-8.7 kcal mol-1). Also, compound 6a displayed considerable antibacterial activity and superior antifungal activity with reference to ciprofloxacin and fluconazole, respectively. The docking results of the fungal enzyme lanosterol 14-α-demethylase showed high binding energy for 6a (-9.7 kcal mol-1) involving dominating H-bonds, electrostatic interaction, and hydrophobic interaction. The absorption, distribution, metabolism, and excretion (ADME) parameter, Molinspiration bioactivity score, and the PreADMET properties revealed that most of the synthesized 1,2,3-triazole molecules possess desirable physicochemical properties for drug-likeness and may be considered as orally active potential drugs. The electrophilicity index and chemical hardness properties were also studied by density functional theory (DFT) using the B3LYP/6-311G(d,p) level/basis set.