Synthesis and Evaluation of Antimicrobial Activity of N-Substituted Indole Derivatives and Molecular Docking Studies

The increasing burden of microbial infection and emerging resistance against the available antimicrobial drugs drives the development of new agents. Two different series of indole-based compounds (VN-1 to VN-18) were synthesized and analyzed for antimicrobial activity by calculating the diameter of the inhibition zone using the broth dilution method and well diffusion method against Escherichia coli (E. coli) and environmental microbes. Most of the compounds displayed good to moderate activity against E. coli, and VN-4 and VN-9 displayed good inhibitory activity against the tested microbes. Molecular docking and binding energy calculation studies of all the synthesized compounds have been performed for targeting FabI, where most of the compounds showed significant interactions with the aromatic nicotinamide moiety of NAD+. In molecular dynamics studies, VN-9 stays inside the binding cavity for sufficient time to induce antimicrobial activity. Thus, these indole-based derivatives may lead to the development of new antimicrobial agents that may act as FabI inhibitors.