Synthesis, Biological Evaluation, and in-Silico Molecular Docking Studies of Multifunctional Thiazolidine Derivatives

Herein we report the synthesis and biological evaluation of a new series of thiazolidin-4-one derivatives. The C4 and C5 functionalized, 5-arylidene/alkylidene, 5-bromo, 5-pyridinium, and 4-arylimino analogs of thiazolidine-4-one were prepared efficiently using appropriate synthetic routes and characterized by IR, NMR and Mass spectrometry. Results of antimicrobial evaluation showed that compounds 4 and 8 had significant antibacterial activity comparable to that of the reference drug gentamicin. Compound 5a showed promising antifungal activity compared to amphotericin B as a reference drug. The antitumor activity revealed that compound 4 was the most active analog among the tested series with IC₅₀ values of 28.4 and 12.6 µg/mL against both HCT-116 and HepG-2 cell lines, respectively, compared to standard drug doxorubicin. Results from the biological evaluation, in-silico molecular docking studies, and ADMET analyses confirmed that thiazolidin-4-one is a promising scaffold that can be used to design potential lead compounds for the antibacterial and antitumor agents.