Design, synthesis, and in vitro antimicrobial activity of hydrazide-hydrazones of 2-substituted acetic acid.

In this study, 30 hydrazide-hydrazones of phenylacetic (3-10) and hydroxyacetic acid (11-32) were synthesized by the condensation reaction of appropriate 2-substituted acetic acid hydrazide with different aromatic aldehydes. The obtained compounds were characterized by spectral data and evaluated in vitro for their potential antimicrobial activities against a panel of reference strains of micro-organisms, including Gram-positive bacteria, Gram-negative bacteria, and fungi belonging to the Candida spp. The results from our antimicrobial assays indicated that among synthesized compounds 3-32, especially compounds 6, 14, and 26 showed high bactericidal activity (MIC = 0.488-7.81 μg/ml) against reference Gram-positive bacteria, and in some cases, their activity was even better than that of commonly used antibiotics, such as cefuroxime or ampicillin.