Antimicrobial activities of some synthetic butenolides and their pyrrolone derivatives

In the present investigation, 17 new synthetic butenolides, i.e. 2-arylidene-4-(4-chloro/ethyl-phenyl)but-3-en-4-olides (3–19) have been synthesized from 3-(4-chloro-benzoyl)propionic acid or 3-(4-ethyl-benzoyl)propionic acid using appropriate reagents. Some of the selected butenolides were reacted with ammonia and benzylamine to give the corresponding pyrrolones (20–31) and N-benzyl-pyrrolones (32–39) respectively. All the compounds were screened for their antibacterial activity against Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa and antifungal activity against Candida albicans, Aspergillus niger, and Rhizopus oryza. Minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) values of the compounds are reported. The pyrrolone derivatives discovered in this study may provide valuable therapeutic intervention for the treatment of microbial diseases, especially against fungal species.