Room temperature synthesis and antibacterial activity of new sulfonamides containing n,n-diethyl-substituted amido moieties.

Sulfonamide drugs which have brought about an antibiotic revolution in medicine are associated with a wide range of biological activities. We have synthesized a series of α-tolylsulfonamide, 1–11 and their substituted N,N-diethyl-2-(phenylmethylsulfonamido) alkanamide derivatives, 12–22 in improved and excellent yields in aqueous medium at room temperature through highly economical synthetic routes. The chemical structures of the synthesized compounds 1–22 were confirmed by analytical and spectral data such as IR, 1H- and 13C-NMR, and mass spectra. The in vitro antibacterial activity of these compounds along with standard clinical reference, streptomycin, was investigated on two key targeted organisms. It was observed that 1-(benzylsulfonyl)pyrrolidine-2-carboxylic acid, 2 emerged as the most active compound against Staphylococcus aureus at MIC value of 1.8 μg/mL while 4-(3-(diethylamino)-3-oxo-2-(phenylmethylsulfonamido) propyl)phenyl phenylmethanesulfonate, 22 was the most active sulfonamide scaffold on Escherichia coli at MIC value of 12.5 μg/mL.