New sulfone and sulfanyl derivatives with antifungal activity

Introduction: Increasing occurrence of fungal infections raises the need to develop novel antifungal agents. In this context, an inhibition of morphological switch may provide an alternative approach to find compounds with a potential to control the Candida albicans infections. Methods: A series of 17 sulfone and sulfanyl derivatives was synthesized and evaluated for activity against the C. albicans wild type (SC5314, ATCC) and SAP-deficient mutant strains using the broth microdilution method M27-A3. Afterwards, phase-contrast microscopy was applied to evaluate the inhibition of fungal morphogenesis under the influence of randomly selected active compounds: 1, 5 and 6. Results: By in vitro susceptibility testing of C. albicans, we identified the effective antifungal agents displaying moderate-to-good activity. Newly synthesized sulfanyl and sulfone derivatives strongly inhibited the C. albicans morphogenetic transition under the hyphae inducing conditions. Conclusions: The leading compound 6 has the potential to be used as a base structure in antifungal drug development, however further structural optimalization and toxicity studies are required.