Sulfadiazine analogs: anti-Toxoplasma in vitro study of sulfonamide triazoles

Toxoplasmosis is an infection that prevails all over the world and is caused by the obligate intracellular protozoan parasite Toxoplasma gondii (T. gondii). Promising novel compounds for the treatment of T. gondii are introduced in the current investigation. In order to test their in vitro potency against T. gondii tachyzoites, six 1,2,3-triazoles-based sulfonamide scaffolds with terminal NH(2) or OH group were prepared and investigated as sulfadiazine equivalents. When compared to sulfadiazine, which served as a positive control, hybrid molecules showed much more anti-Toxoplasma activity. The results showed that the IC(50) of the examined compounds 3(a–f) were recoded as 0.07492 μM, 0.07455 μM, 0.0392 μM, 0.03124 μM, 0.0533 μM, and 0.01835 μM, respectively, while the sulfadiazine exhibited 0.1852 μM. The studied 1,2,3-triazole-sulfadrug molecular conjugates 3(a–f) revealed selectivity index of 10.4, 8.9, 25.4, 21, 8.3, and 29; respectively. The current study focused on the newly synthesized amino derivatives 3(d–f), as they contain the more potent amino groups which are recognized to be essential elements and promote better biological activity. Extracellular tachyzoites underwent striking morphological alterations after 2 h of treatment as seen by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Additionally, the intracellular tachyzoite exposed to the newly synthesized amino derivatives 3(d–f) for a 24-h period of treatment revealed damaged and altered morphology by transmission electron microscopic (TEM) indicating cytopathic effects. Moreover, compound 3f underwent the most pronounced changes, indicating that it had the strongest activity against T. gondii. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s00436-023-07936-x.