Synthesis, In Vitro Biological Evaluation, and Molecular Docking of New Triazoles as Potent Antifungal Agents

Based on the structure of the active site of CYP51 and the structure-activity relationships of azole antifungal compounds that we designed in a previous study, a series of 1-{1-[ 2-(substitutedbenzyloxy)ethyl]-1H-1,2,3-triazol-4-yl}-2-(2,4-difluorophenyl)-3-(1H-1,2,4-triazol-1-yl) propan-2-ols (6a-n) were designed and synthesized utilizing copper-catalyzed azide-alkyne cycloaddition. Preliminary antifungal tests against eight human pathogenic fungi in vitro showed that all the title compounds exhibited excellent antifungal activities with a broad spectrum in vitro. Molecular docking results indicated that the interaction between the title compounds and CYP51 comprised pi-pi interactions, hydrophobic interactions, and the narrow hydrophobic cleft.