Novel purine benzimidazoles as antimicrobial agents by regulating ROS generation and targeting clinically resistant Staphylococcus aureus DNA groove

A novel series of purine benzimidazole hybrids were designed and synthesized for the first time with the aim to circumvent the increasing antibiotic resistance. Hexyl appended hybrid 3c gave potent activities against most of the tested bacteria and fungi especially against multidrug-resistant strains Staphylococcus aureus (MIC?=?4?µg/mL). Structure-activity relationships revealed that the benzimidazole fragment at the 9-position of purine played an important role in exerting potentially antibacterial activity. Both cell toxicity and ROS generation assays indicated that the purine derivative 3c showed low cytotoxicity and could be used as a safe agent. Molecular modeling suggested that hybrid 3c could bind with the residues of Topo IA through hydrogen bonds and electrostatic interactions. Quantum chemical studies were also performed on the target compound 3c to understand the structural features essential for activity. The active molecule 3c could effectively interact with S. aureus DNA to form 3c–DNA complex through groove binding mode, which might block DNA replication to display their powerful antimicrobial activity.