Synthesis and in vitro antibacterial activity of new steroidal thiosemicarbazone derivatives.

We investigated the antibacterial activity of some new steroidal thiosemicarbazone derivatives, prepared from the reaction of cholest-5-en-7-one with thiosemicarbazides, in ethanol in the presence of a few drops of HCl at 80 degrees C in high yield. All the compounds have been characterized by means of elemental analyses, IR, 1H NMR and mass spectroscopic data, to find an effective antibacterial agent. The antibacterial activity was first tested in vitro by the disk diffusion assay against two Gram-positive and two Gram-negative bacteria, and then the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of compounds was determined. The results showed that the steroidal thiosemicarbazones derivatives inhibit growth of both types of the bacteria (Gram-positive and Gram-negative). The acetoxy and chloro derivatives of cyclopentyl and cyclohexyl amine thiosemicarbazones were found to have more antibacterial activity than the other derivatives.