ALIPHATIC ETHERS AND ESTERS OF 1-(2,4-DICHLOROPHENYL)-2-(1H-IMIDAZOLYL) ETHANOL - STUDY OF ANTIFUNGAL ACTIVITY AGAINST YEASTS AND HYDROPHOBIC CHARACTER

Aliphatic ethers 2 and esters 3, which are closely related to antifungal azoles, were synthesized and tested against various strains of Candida. We found that their activity was strongly related to the length of the chains; the best activity was obtained with a C-6 chain for ethers and C-5 or C-6 chains for esters (including the carbonyl group), whereas shorter or longer alkyl chains decreased antifungal efficiency. The biological activity of such compounds could be related to their ability to bind with the lipophilic area near the active site of enzymatic target. The lipophilic character increases with the length of chain, following a linear variation. Thus, even if the activity depends on the lipophilic influence, this particular property is not sufficient to totally explain the antifungal efficiency.