Design, Synthesis, Computational Study, and Biological Evaluation of Sulfonyl Tethered Piperazine Derivatives as Antimicrobial Agents

Abstract Piperazine, a nitrogen‐containing heterocyclic compound, has potential in medical chemistry due to its versatile structure and ease of modification. Therefore, researchers have designed novel piperazine derivatives with various biological activities, including antiviral, antibacterial, and antifungal properties. In this study, a new series of 2‐(4‐((5‐bromo‐2‐methoxyphenyl)sulfonyl) piperazine‐1‐yl) acetamide derivatives ( 7a‐l ) were synthesized and their structures were identified using 1H‐NMR, 13C‐NMR, and HRMS spectroscopic methods. The in vitro antimicrobial activity of these compounds was tested against four bacterial strains and two fungi strains. Some of the sulfonyl piperazine derivatives ( 7d, 7e, 7f, 7j, 7k, and 7l ) exhibited relatively good antimicrobial and antifungal activities compared to standard drugs. Further analysis using computational docking confirmed strong binding interactions, aligning with our results. Our compounds exhibited improved potency compared to existing standard treatments.