Antibacterial and mutagenic activities of new isothiocyanate derivatives.

Nine newly synthesized isothiocyanate derivatives were demonstrated to posses antibacterial and genotoxic activities in vitro. 4-Hydroxybutyl isothiocyanate exhibited a broad antibacterial effect, with MIC values of 762 mumol/L for Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli. Ethyl 4-methylsulfoxidobutanoate had the highest antibacterial activity in Gram-positive bacteria, the MIC value being 425 mumol/L for S. aureus. The highest tested concentrations of ethyl 4-isothiocyanatobutanoate and 4-hydroxybutyl isothiocyanate produced a bacteriocidal effect in Gram-positive bacteria. The compounds showed no mutagenic effects on Salmonella typhimurium tester strains TA 98 and TA 100, either in the absence or in the presence of a metabolically active microsomal S9 fraction from rat liver using standard Ames test.