Synthesis, In Silico Study, Antibacterial and Antifungal Activities of N-phenylbenzamides

Antibiotic and antifungal resistance problems have been prevalent in recent decades. One of the efforts to solve the problems is to develop new medicines with more potent antibacterial and antifungal activity. N-phenylbenzamides have the potential to be developed as antibacterial and antifungal medicine. This study aimed to synthesize N-phenylbenzamides and evaluate their in silico and in vitro antibacterial and antifungal activities. The in silico studies conducted absorption, distribution, metabolism, excretion and toxicity (ADMET) predictions along with molecular docking studies. ADMET predictions used pkCSM software online, while the docking studies used MVD software (Molegro (®) Virtual Docker version 5.5) on Aminoglycosid-2 ″-phosphotransferase-IIa (APH2 ″-IIa) enzyme with protein data bank (PDB) ID code 3HAV as antibacterial and aspartic proteinases enzyme (Saps) with PDB ID code 2QZX as an antifungal. In vitro, antibacterial and antifungal tests were carried out using the zone of inhibition (ZOI) method. The five N-phenylbenzamides (3a–e) were successfully synthesized with a high yield. Based on in silico and in vitro studies, compounds 3a–e have antibacterial and antifungal activities, where they can inhibit the growth of Gram-positive bacteria (Staphylococcus aureus), Gram-negative (Escherichia coli), and Candida albicans. Therefore, compounds 3a–e can be developed as a topical antibacterial and antifungal agent.