Novel imidazo[2,1-b]-1,3,4-thiadiazoles as promising antifungal agents against clinical isolate of Cryptococcus neoformans.

We herein report the synthesis and in vitro antimicrobial evaluation of twenty five novel hybrid derivatives of imidazo [2,1-b]-1,3,4-thiadiazole containing chalcones (5a-o) and Schiff bases (6a-j) against three fungal strains (Candida albicans, Cryptococcus neoformans and Aspergillus niger). Most of the tested compounds displayed substantial anti-fungal activity with MICs ranging between 1.56 and 100 μg/mL. Compounds 5a, 5b and 5n exhibited promising activity against C. neoformans at a MIC 1.56 μg/mL. In addition, compound 5n also demonstrated significant antifungal activity against the clinical isolates of C. neoformans at MIC 3.125 μg/mL. However, moderate activity was observed for these compounds against four bacterial strains (Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus subtilis, Escherichia coli and Pseudomonas aeruginosa) and Mycobacterium tuberculosis (H37Rv).