Discovery of benzotriazole-azo-phenol/aniline derivatives as antifungal agents

A series of benzotriazole-azo-phenol/aniline derivatives were prepared and evaluated for their antifungal activities against six phytopathogenic fungi such as Fusarium graminearum, Fusarium solani, Alternaria alternate, Valsa mali, Botrytis cinerea, and Curvularia lunata. Among them, compounds IIf, IIn, and IIr showed a broad-spectrum of potent antifungal activities. Especially some compounds displayed 3.5–10.8 folds more potent activities than carbendazim against A. alternata and C. lunata. Notably, compounds IIc, IIm, and IIr exhibited good protective and therapeutic effects against B. cinerea at 200?μg/mL. Their structure-activity relationships were also discussed.