Synthesis, Antimicrobial and Antiinflammatory Activity of 2,5-Disubstituted-1,3,4-oxadiazoles

In the present study, 2,5-disubstituted-1,3,4-oxadiazoles (3a-o) have been synthesized by the condensation of 4-methoxybenzohydrazide (1) with different aromatic acids (2a-o) in presence of phosphoryl chloride. The structural assignment of this compound (3a-o) has been made on the basis of elemental analysis, UV, IR, (1)H NMR and mass spectral data. The synthesized compounds were screened for their in vitro growth inhibiting activity against different strains of bacteria and fungi viz., Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus subtilis, Bacillus megaterium, Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Shigella dysenteriae, Candida albicans, Aspergillus niger and Aspergillus flavus were compared with the standard antibiotics such as chloramphenicol (50 μg/ml) and griseofulvin (50 μg/ml) using well agar diffusion technique. Compounds 3e, 3g, 3h and 3m exhibits highest antibacterial activity and compounds 3d, 3g and 3h showed better antifungal activity. The synthesized compounds (3a-o) were screened for their in vitro antiinflammatory activity against carrageenan-induced rat paw oedema. Compounds 3f and 3i were found to be most active compound of this series, which shows 46.42% and 50% inflammation inhibitory activity, whereas standard drug phenylbutazone exhibit 53.57% antiinflammatory activity at a dose of 50 mg/kg po.