Introduction Resistance to a number of antimicrobial agents by a variety of pathogenic bacteria is becoming a major global problem. The widespread use and misuse of antibiotics is one of the cause attributed to the emer-gence of drug resistance to majority of antibacterial agents (Mashrai et al., 2014). It warrants the scientific community to develop new anti- microbial agents with potent and broad spectrum of antimicrobial action against resistant pathogens vis a vis cheap and safe. Therefore, there is a wide scope on research on newer antibacterial agents. Another important public health problem is helmin- thiasis or worm infestations. It is a cause of several related diseases caused by a variety of worms and exists worldwide. Very few drugs are avai-lable in the market to treat all worm infestations. The situation is worsened due to unavailability of an ideal anthelmintic vaccine (Newton and Munn, 1999). Though research is going on but its delayed development has necessitated the discovery of new anthelmintic compounds that could be used effectively to circumvent the current situation. Extensive literature survey shows that phenolic and haloaryl rings are associated with anthelmintic and anti -intestinal nematode (Duan et al., 2011), antioxidant (Valentina et al., 2009) and antibacterial activity (Husain et al., 2010). Schiff bases are important class of organic compounds with imine or azomethine (–C=N–) functional group. These are prepared by condensing primary amines with carbonyl compounds (Dhar and Taploo, 1982). Schiff bases are reported to possess diverse biological and pharmacological actions inclu- ding potential anti-inflammatory (Gurupadayya et al., 2008), antibacterial (Hearn et al., 2009), antitubercular (Aboul-Fadl et al., 2010) antiviral (Kumar et al., 2010.), anticonvulsant (Firke et al., 2009), and anthelmintic (Sharma et al., 2009) activities. It was proposed wide spectrum of biological activities of Schiff bases could be A Journal of the Bangladesh Pharmacological Society (BDPS) Bangladesh J Pharmacol 2015; 10: 555-561 Journal homepage: www.banglajol.info Abstracted/indexed in Academic Search Complete, Agroforestry Abstracts, Asia Journals Online, Bangladesh Journals Online, Biological Abstracts, BIOSIS Previews, CAB Abstracts, Current Abstracts, Directory of Open Access Journals, EMBASE/Excerpta Medica, Google Scholar, HINARI (WHO), International Pharmaceutical Abstracts, Open J-gate, Science Citation Index Expanded, SCOPUS and Social Sciences Citation Index; ISSN: 1991-0088 Abstract A new series of N-({5-(substituted aryl)-furan-2-yl}-methylidene)-hydrazides were synthesized with a new class of Schiff bases derived from the reaction of substituted phenyl-1-ketohydrazide 2 or 2-(4-chloro-3-methylaryloxy) aceto- hydrazide 3 with different 5-(substituted aryl)-2-furfuraldehyde (1a-k) to yield substituted N-({5-(substituted aryl)-furan-2-yl}-methylidene)-hydrazides -Schiff bases (4a-f, 4g-k). The title compounds were subjected to in vitro antibacterial screening against Gram positive bacterial strains- S. aureus, B. cereus, E. faecalis and S. epidermidis, and Gram negative bacteria strains- E. coli, S. typhi, S. dysenteriae and K. pneumoniae. The synthesized Schiff bases were also evaluated for their anthelmintic activity against two species of earth- worms (Pheretima posthuma and Perionyx excavatus). Some compounds have shown promising antibacterial and anthelmintic activities. Article Info Received: 14 May 2015 Accepted: 19 June 2015 Available Online: 1 July 2015 DOI: 10.3329/bjp.v10i3.23381 Cite this article: Husain A, Varshney MM, Parcha V, Ahmad A, Khan SA. Synthesis and bio- logical evaluation of new hydrazide- Schiff bases. Bangladesh J Pharmacol. 2015; 10: 555-61. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License. You are free to copy, distribute and perform the work. You must attribute the work in the manner specified by the author or licensor. Synthesis and biological evaluation of new hydrazide-Schiff bases Asif Husain1, Munendra M. Varshney2, Versha Parcha3, Aftab Ahmad4 and Shah Alam Khan5 1Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, Hamdard University, New Delhi 110 062, India; 2College of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Raj Kumar Goel Institute of Technology, Ghaziabad, U.P. 201 003, India; 3Sardar Bhagwan Singh Post Graduate Institute of Biomedical Sciences and Research, Dehradun, Uttarakhand, India; 4Health Information Technology Department, Jeddah Community College, King Abdul Aziz University, Jeddah 21 589, KSA; 5Dept of Pharmacy, Oman Medical College, PO Box 620, PC 130, Muscat, Sultanate of Oman. because of the interaction of nitrogen atom of azome- thine with the active centers of cell constituents by for- ming a hydrogen bond and thus it interferes in normal cell processes (Venugopala and Jayashree, 2003). Owing to the antimicrobial and anthelmintic activities of substituted furfuraldehyde, phenolic and haloaryl moiety, it was thought worthwhile to synthesize some new compounds comprising of these moieties as a part of their structures, with an objective to obtain potential antimicrobial and anthelmintic agents with enhanced biological activities. Therefore, several N-({5-(substitu- ted aryl)-furan-2-yl}-methylidene)-hydrazides (4a-f, 4g- k) Schiff bases were synthesized via synthesis of substituted phenyl-1-ketohydrazide 2 and 2-(4-chloro-2- methylaryloxy)-acetohydrazide 3 with different aroma- tic 5-(substituted aryl)-2-furfuraldehyde (1a-k). The novel Schiff bases were chemically characterized and screened for their antimicrobial and anthelmintic activities. Materials and Methods Chemistry Melting points were determined in one end open capillary tubes and were uncorrected. Thin-layer chromatography was carried out to monitor the reactions using silica gel G plates. The IR spectra were recorded on Bruker, alpha E ATR FTIR spectro- photometer. 1H-NMR spectra were recorded on Bruker spectrospin DPX-300 MHz in DMSO-d6; chemical shift (δ) values are reported in parts per million (ppm). The splitting pattern abbreviations are as follows: s, singlet; d, doublet; t, triplet; m, multiplet. Mass spectra were scanned on Brukers micrOTOF-QII, ESI mass spectro- photometer. Elemental analyses (C, H, and N) were done on a CHN rapid analyzer and reported in percentage abundance within ± 0.04% of the theoretical values. Spectral and micro-analysis data are consistent with the assigned structures. Ketohydrazides (2), and 5-(phenyl substituted)-2-furfu- raldehydes (3) were prepared by reported method (Varshney et al., 2014). General procedure for the synthesis of N-[{5-(substituted aryl)-furan-2-yl}-methylidene]-hydrazides (4a-f, 4g-k) Schiff bases: A mixture of ketohydrazide 2 (0.1 mol) and 5- (phenyl substituted)-2-furfuraldehyde 3 (0.05 mol) was refluxed on water bath for 7-8 hours in ethanol as solvent and in the presence of few drops of sulfuric acid as catalyst. The progress of the reaction was monitored by TLC. After completion of reaction, the reaction mixture was allowed to cool; crystals formed were washed, dried and finally recrystallized with ethanol to furnish the desired compound (4a-f, 4g-k; Table I). 2-(2-Hydroxyphenyl)-N-[{5-(4-nitrophenyl)-furan-2-yl}- methylidene]-ketohydrazide (4a): IR (νmax, cm-1): 1653 (CO of CONH), 1619, 3331 (NH of CONH), 1552, 1456, 1218, 1192, 1069, 913, 729 (C=C and C-H of aromatic ring); 1H NMR: (DMSO-d6, δ, ppm): 4.51 (1H, s, OH), 6.73-7.80 (10H, m, Ar), 9.48 (1H, s, N=CH), 9.87 (1H, s, CONH); EI-MS (m/z, %); 351 [M+1, 100]; Anal. Calcd. for C18H13N3O5: C, 61.54; H, 3.73, N, 11.75. Found: C, 61.49; H, 3.74, N, 11.76. 2-(2-Hydroxyphenyl)-N-[5-(4-chlorophenyl)-furan-2-yl}- methylidene]-ketohydrazide (4b): IR (νmax, cm-1): 1651 (CO of CONH), 1623, 3312 (NH of CONH), 1548, 1459, 1216, 1158, 1064, 986, 718 (C=C and C-H of aromatic ring); 1H NMR: (DMSO-d6, δ, ppm): 4.22 (1H, s, OH), 6.82-7.69 (10H, m, Ar), 9.93 (1H, s, CONH), 10.12 (1H, s, N=CH); Table I Physical data of title compounds (4a-k) Compd. R1 R Molecular Formula M.P (ºC) M.Wt. Physical state % Yield 4a 4-Nitrophenyl 2-Hydroxy C18H13N3O5 190-192 351 Pale brown crystals 39 4b 4-Chlorophenyl 2-Hydroxy C18H13ClN2O3 168 340 Brown crystals 23 4c 4-Bromophenyl 2-Hydroxy C18H13BrN2O3 181-183 385 Brown crystals 56 4d 4-Methylphenyl 2-Hydroxy C19H16N2O3 194-196 320 Pale brown crystals 77 4e 4-Methoxyphenyl 2-Hydroxy C19H16N2O4 166 336 Dark brown crystals 73 4f 2,4-Dinitrophenyl 2-Hydroxy C18H12N4O7 150-151 396 Dark brown crystals 70 4g 4-Sulfoxyphenyl 2-Methyl C20H17C 2O6S 131-133 413 Pale Brown crystals 54 4h 2-carboxyphenyl 2-methyl C21H17ClN2O5 162 412 Yellow crystals 46 4i 3-chlorophenyl 2-methyl C20H16Cl2N2 O3 135-136 402 Dark brown crystals 48 4j 4-carboxyphenyl 2-methyl C21H17ClN2O5 128-130 412 Brown crystals 51 4k 4-sulfacetamidophenyl 2-methyl C22H20Cl3O6S 176 489 Brown crystals 65 556 Bangladesh J Pharmacol 2015; 10: 555-561 EI-MS (m/z, %): 340 [M+1, 100]; Anal. Calcd. for C18H13ClN2O3: C, 63.54; H, 3.85, N, 10.40. Found: C, 63.58; H, 3.86, N, 10.44. 2-(2-Hydroxyphenyl)-N-({5-(4-bromophenyl)-furan-2-yl}- methylidene]-ketohydrazide (4c): IR (νmax, cm-1): 1644 (CO of CONH), 1604, 3328 (NH of CONH), 1546, 1449, 1228, 1151, 1022, 931, 737 (C=C and C-H of aromatic ring); 1H NMR: (DMSO-d6, δ, ppm): 4.04 (1H, s, OH), 6.73-7.82 (10H, m, Ar), 9.69 (1H, s, N=CH), 9.77 (1H, s, CONH); EI-MS (m/z, %): 385 [M+1, 100]; Anal. Calcd. for C18H13BrN2O3: C, 56.12; H, 3.40, N, 7.27. Found: C, 55.96; H, 3.43, N, 7.25. 2-(2-Hydroxyphenyl)-N-[{5-(4-methylphenyl)-furan-2-yl}- methylidene]-ketohydrazide (4d): IR (νmax, cm-1): 1635 (CO of CONH), 1633, 3342 (NH of CONH), 1542, 1458, 1237, 1164, 1075, 956, 749 (C=C and C-H of aromatic ring); 1H NMR: (DMSO-d6, δ, ppm): 3.16 (3H, s, CH3), 4.33 (1H, s, OH), 6.57-7.82 (10H, m, Ar), 9.59 (1H, s, N=CH), 9.90 (1H, s, CONH); EI-MS (m/z, %): 320 (M+1, 100); Anal. Calcd. for C19H16N2O3: C, 71.24; H, 5.03, N, 8.04. Found: C, 71.25; H, 5.05, N, 8.07. 2-(2-Hydroxyphenyl)-N-[{5-(4-methoxyphenyl)-furan-2-yl}- methylidene]-ketohydrazide (4e): IR (νmax, cm-1): 1648 (CO of CONH), 1609, 3316 (NH of CONH), 1282 (C-O-C of Ar-OCH3), 1540, 1424, 1227, 1167, 1054, 940, 745 (C=C and C-H of aromatic ring); 1H NMR: (DMSO-d6, δ, ppm): 4.23 (1H, s, OH), 6.87-7.79 (10H, m, Ar), 9.94 (1H, s, N=CH), 10.24 (1H, s, CONH); EI-MS (m/z, %): 336 (M+1, 100); Anal. Calcd. for C19H16N2O4: C, 67.85; H, 4.79, N, 8.33. Found: C, 67.82; H, 4.74, N, 8.29. 2-(2-Hydroxyphenyl)-N-[{5-(2,4-dinitrophenyl)-furan-2-yl}- methylidene]-ketohydrazide (4f): IR (νmax, cm-1): 1660 (CO of CONH), 1541, 3389 (NH of CONH), 1515, 1457, 1236, 1108, 1067, 992, 746 (C=C and C-H of aromatic ring); 1H NMR: (DMSO-d6, δ, ppm): 3.98 (1H, s, OH), 6.91-8.89 (9H, m, Ar), 9.86 (1H, s, N=CH), 9.95 (1H, s, CONH); EI- MS (m/z, %): 396 [M+1, 100]; Anal. Calcd. for C18H12N4O7: C, 54.55; H, 3.05, N, 14.14. Found: C, 54.24; H, 3.09, N, 13.90. 2-(4-Chloro-2-methylphenoxy)-N-[{5-(4-sulfoxyphenyl)- furan-2-yl}-methylidene]-acetohydrazide (4g): IR (νmax, cm- 1): 1173 (C-O-C), 1672 (CO of CONH), 1626, 3353 (NH of CONH), 1547, 1464, 1265, 1169, 1102, 941, 742 (C=C and C-H of aromatic ring); 1H NMR: (DMSO-d6, δ, ppm): 2.24 ( 3H, s, CH3), 4.61 (2H,s, OCH2), 6.72-8.38 (9H, m, Ar-H), 9.42 (1H, s, N=CH), 10.18 (1H, s, CONH); EI-MS (m/z, %): 449 [M+1, 100]; Anal. Calcd. for C20H17ClN2O6S: C, 53.51; H, 3.82, N, 6.24. Found: C, 53.54; H, 3.85, N, 6.27. 2-(4-Chloro-2-methylphenoxy)-N-[{5-(2-carboxyphenyl)- furan-2-yl}-methylidene]-acetohydrazide (4h): IR (νmax, cm- 1): 1167 (C-O-C), 1678 (CO of CONH), 1648, 3324 (NH of CONH), 1543, 1424, 1209, 1162, 1098, 875, 807, 775 (C=C and C-H of aromatic ring); 1H NMR: (DMSO-d6, δ, ppm): 2.29 ( 3H, s, CH3), 4.65 (2H, s, OCH2), 6.59-8.06 (9H, m, Ar-H), 9.54 (1H, s, N=CH), 10.16 (1H, s, CONH); EI-MS (m/z, %): 413 [M+1, 100]; Anal. Calcd. for C21H17ClN2O5: C, 61.01; H, 4.15, N, 6.79. Found: C, 61.35; H, 3.87, N, 6.82. 2-(4-Chloro-2-methylphenoxy)-N-[{5-(3-chlorophenyl)-furan -2-yl}-methylidene]-acetohydrazide (4i): IR (νmax, cm-1): 1175 (C-O-C), 1678 (CO of CONH), 1625, 3326 (NH of CONH), 1547, 1461, 1262, 1161, 1117, 865, 730 (C=C and C-H of aromatic ring); 1H NMR: (DMSO-d6, δ, ppm): 2.27 (3H, s, CH3), 4.67 (2H, s, OCH2), 6.67-8.48 (9H, m, Ar-H), 9.57 (1H, s, N=CH), 10.13 (1H, s, CONH); EI-MS (m/z, %): 404 [M+1, 100]; Anal. Calcd. for C20H16Cl2N2O3: C, 59.57; H, 4.00, N, 6.95. Found: C, 59.63; H, 4.05, N, 6.96. 2-(4-Chloro-2-methylphenoxy)-N-[{5-(4-carboxyphenyl)- furan-2-yl}-methylidene]-acetohydrazide (4j): IR (νmax, cm- 1): 1150 (C-O-C), 1675 (CO of CONH), 1623, 3324 (NH of CONH), 1542, 1462, 1264, 1167, 1121, 858, 720 (C=C and C-H of aromatic ring); 1H NMR: (DMSO-d6, δ, ppm): 2.29 ( 3H, s, CH3), 4.61 (2H, s, OCH2), 6.65-7.95 (9H, m, Ar-H), 9.36 (1H, s, N=CH), 10.19 (1H, s, CONH); EI-MS (m/z, %): 413 [M+1, 100]; Anal. Calcd. for C21H17ClN2O5: C, 61.01; H, 4.15, N, 6.79. Found: C, 61.28; H, 3.77, N, 6.82. 2-(4-Chloro-2-methylphenoxy)-N-[{5-(4-sulfacetamido- phenyl)-furan-2-yl}-methylidene]-acetohydrazide (4k): IR (νmax, cm-1): 1158 (C-O-C), 1674 (CO of CONH), 1620, 3344 (NH of CONH), 1171 (SO2 of SO2NH), 1541, 1462, 1264, 1170, 1117, 852, 711 (C=C and C-H of aromatic ring); 1H NMR: (DMSO-d6, δ, ppm): 2.31 (3H, s, CH3), 4.67 (2H, s, OCH2), 6.71-7.95 (9H, m, Ar-H), 8.16 (1H, s, SO2NH ), 9.32 (1H, s, N=CH), 10.21 (1H, s, CONH); EI- MS (m/z, %): 490 [M+1, 100]; Anal. Calcd. for C22H20ClN3O6S: C, 52.23; H, 3.98, N, 8.31. Found: C, 52.05; H, 4.02, N, 8.12. Biological evaluation The title compounds were evaluated for their antibacterial and anthelmintic activities. Antibacterial activity Antibacterial activity of the newly synthesized Schiff bases was evaluated by disc diffusion method (Cruickshank et al., 1975; Elmer et al., 2002) against four gram positive bacterial strains; S. aureus, B. cereus, E. faecalis, S. epidermidis, and four gram negative bacterial strains; E. coli, S. typhi, S. dysenteriae and K. pneumoniae taking ampicillin (20 µg/disc) as reference drug. Standard inoculums (1 mL/100 mL of medium) with suspension were introduced onto the surface of sterile agar plates, and a sterile bent glass spreader was used for even distribution of the inoculums. The discs mea- suring 6 mm in diameter were prepared from Whatman (Grade No. 1) filter paper and sterilized by dry heat for 1 hour. Three discs of test samples were placed on three portion together with one disc having the reference Bangladesh J Pharmacol 2015; 10: 555-561 557 drug (ampicillin), and one disc impregnated with solvent (DMF) as negative control. The sterile discs previously soaked in a known concentration (25 µg/mL in dimethyl formamide) of the test compounds were placed in nutrient agar medium. Plates were inverted and incubated for 24 hours at 37 ± 1ºC. Diameters of zone of inhibition (mm) were determined and average diameter of test samples were calculated in triplicate sets. Zone of inhibition of test compounds were com- pared with that of the standard. Anthelmintic activity Anthelmintic activity was carried out against two different species of worms; Pheretima posthuma and Perionyx excavatus, at a 2 mg/mL concentration (Dahiya and Pathak 2007). Collected earthworms were washed with normal saline water to remove soil and fecal matter. Suspensions of samples were prepared by tritu- rating synthesized compounds (100 mg) with Tween 80 (0.5%) and normal saline solution and the resulting mixtures were stirred for 30 min. The suspensions were diluted to obtain conc. of 0.2% w/v of the test samples. Suspension of reference drug albendazole (0.2% w/v) was prepared with the same manner. Three sets of five earthworms of almost similar sizes (approx. 2 inch in length) were placed in petri plates of 4 inch diameter containing 50 mL of suspension of test samples and reference drug. Another set of five earthworms was kept as control in 50 mL suspension of distilled water and tween 80 (0.5%). The paralyzing and death times were noted and their mean was calculated for triplicate sets. Statistical analysis The statistics i.e. one way ANOVA and t-test were applied on the values of mean ± SEM of triplicates (n=3) zone of growth of inhibition of test compounds, and compared with standard drug ampicillin with control as DMF (dimethyl formamide). While data of anthel- mintic activity of the test compounds was analyzed by mean ± SD (n=5) and compared with albendazole. Results and Discussion Chemistry The primary aim of this study was to condense a biologically active pharmacophore such as furan with an acid hydrazide to obtain Schiff bases as source of potential antimicrobial and anthelminitic agents. The five membered oxygen containing heterocyclic nucleus was also substituted at 5th position to study the effect of various substituents on biological activity. It has been reported that hyrazide Schiff bases prepared from aromatic hydroxy aldehydes found significant applica- tions in analytical and pharmaceutical industries (Nath et al., 2001; Tarafdar and Khan, 1991). Schiff bases have been of great importance due to their synthetic flexibi- lity, selectivity and sensitivity towards the metal ions. Heterocyclic ring containing oxygen atom further imparts broad spectrum of biological activity to Schiff’s bases (Nair et al., 1983). The title compounds, N-[{5-(substituted aryl)-furan-2- yl}-methylidene]-hydrazides (4a-f, 4g-k) Schiff bases were synthesized by condensing ketohydrazide 2 with 5-(phenyl substituted)-2-furfuraldehyde 3 in presence of sulfuric acid (Scheme 1). The compounds were characterized by IR, 1H-NMR, Mass spectral data and elemental (C, H, N) analysis. The compounds were obtained in moderate to good yield. The IR spectra of Scheme 1: Protocol for the synthesis of hydrazide-Schiff bases O R1 CHO 1 a-k O O NH.NH2 R Cl 3 R O NH.NH2 2 R O NH 4 a-f N O R1 O O NH R Cl 4 g-k N O R1 558 Bangladesh J Pharmacol 2015; 10: 555-561 compounds (4a-f, 4g-k) showed absorption bands for C=O of CONH at 1639-1698; NH of CONH at 1607-1648 and at 3312-3369 cm-1. The 1H-NMR spectra of title compounds showed the typical protons signals for N=CH and CONH groups at δ 9.37-10.14 and 9.93-10.24 ppm range, respectively. The molecular ion peak (M+) for all the synthesized compounds was also obtained in mass spectra and was of good intensity. Biological evaluation Antibacterial activity In vitro antibacterial activity of the title compounds (4a- f, 4g-k) was carried out against eight human pathogenic bacteria, four Gram positive bacterial strains; S.aureus, B. cereus, E. faecalis and S. epidermidis, and four Gram negative bacterial strains; E. coli, S. typhi, S. dysenteriae and K. pneumonia, respectively. The zone of inhibition of positive control ampicillin, against Gram positive bacteria was 22-26 mm and against Gram negative bacteria was in range of 22-27 mm. The least sensitive Gram positive and negative bacteria against ampicillin were S. epidermidis and E. coli, while E. faecalis and S. typhi were most sensitive. All the tested compounds (4a -f, 4g-k) showed good antibacterial activity against all the tested strains. An analysis of results showed that, among tested compounds, the compounds 4c, 4f, 4g, 4i, 4j and 4k which have electron withdrawing groups (4- bromo, 2,4-dinitro, 4-sulfoxy, 3-chloro, 4-carboxylic, and 4-sulfacetamido) on the phenyl ring, showed excellent antibacterial activity and found to be equipotent against B. cereus, S. dysenteriae, S. aureus, S. epidermidis and K. pneumoniae when compared with standard drug. Compounds 4a, 4b, 4d and 4h showed moderate antibacterial activity against S. aureus, B. cereus, E. faecalis, and S. epidermidis, E. coli, S. typhi, S. dysenteriae and K. pneumonia (Table II). It was interes- ting to note that compound 4k showed better zone of inhibition (25 mm) than the standard drug (24 mm) against S. epidermidis and also matched the standard (26 mm) in antibacterial action against K. pneumoniae. Like our compounds, Schiff bases derived from isatin derivatives and N[4-(4' chlorophenyl)thiozole-2-yl] thiosemicarbazide, have also shown to be potent anti- microbial agents (Pandeya et al., 1999). The antibacterial activity of N-(1-phenyl-2-hydroxy-2-phenylethylidine)- 2',4' dinitrophenyl hydrazine was found to be at par with kanamycin at the same dose against S. aureus, B. megaterium, E. coli, S. dysenteriae, S. sonnei and P. aeruginosa (Jesmin et al., 2008). However, Siddique et al., in 2013 evaluated the antimicrobial activity of Schiff bases prepared from 4-chloro benzaldehyde and substituted hydrazides and reported them to be moderately active against Typhimusium Salmonella, Candida albicans, E. coli, B. subtilis while found to be inactive against S. aureus (Siddique et al., 2013). Anthelmintic activity The helminthes are the common cause of parasitic diseases in poverty stricken and developing countries with warm, moist environments with poor sanitary conditions (Sarnaim et al., 2013). Anthelmintic agents get rid of the parasitic worms by expelling them from the host body but the extensive use of these drugs have led to the development of resistance which necessitates the design and synthesis of potent and safe anthelmintic agents. Indian earthworms, P. posthuma and P. excavatus, due to their anatomical and Table II Antibacterial activity of title compounds (4a-k) Antibacterial activity (Zone of inhibition in mm) Compd. Gram (+) bacteria Gram (-) bacteria SA BC EF SE EC ST SD KP 4a 10 ± 0.5 12 ± 0.4 21 ± 0.7 12 ± 0.7 8 ± 0.6 16 ± 0. 8 19 ± 0.2 17 ± 0.2 4b 8 ± 0.3 12 ± 0.6 13 ± 0.2 7 ± 0.2 7 ± 0.3 10 ± 0.4 8 ± 0.2 10 ± 0.4 4c 11 ± 0.1 15 ± 0.3 16 ± 0.3 19 ± 0.6 18 ± 0.2 21 ± 0.7 23 ± 0.3 12 ± 0.3 4d 7 ± 0.3 21 ± 0.5 20 ± 0.5 8 ± 0.4 11 ± 0.4 11 ± 0.3 13 ± 0.4 22 ± 0.4 4e 18 ± 0.2 11 ± 0.3 16 ± 0.1 13 ± 0.6 7 ± 0.5 13 ± 0.8 9 ± 0.2 15 ± 0.3 4f 17 ± 0.3 15 ± 0.1 18 ± 0.9 20 ± 0.2 9 ± 0.6 17 ± 0.3 23 ± 0.4 20 ± 0.7 4g 8 ± 0.3 21 ± 0.5 23 ± 0.0 14 ± 0.5 18 ± 0.0 11 ± 0.7 17 ± 0.7 24 ± 0.4 4h 9 ± 0.1 16 ± 0.0 14 ± 0.0 16 ± 0.1 9 ± 0.3 13 ± 0.0 15 ± 0.0 21 ± 0.0 4i 12 ± 0.4 21 ± 0.0 11 ± 0.0 14 ± 0.0 16 ± 0.0 17 ± 0.3 19 ± 0.0 13 ± 0.0 4j 14 ± 0.0 24 ± 0.0 13 ± 0.1 16 ± 02 18 ± 0.0 21 ± 0.0 22 ± 0.5 12 ± 0.3 4k 24 ± 0.2 12 ± 0.4 22 ± 0.3 25 ± 0.5 17 ± 0.3 22 ± 0.5 22 ± 0.3 26 ± 0.2 Ampicillin 25 ± 0.0 25 ± 0.0 26 ± 0.0 24 ± 0.0 22 ± 0.0 27 ± 0.0 26 ± 0.0 26 ± 0.0 All the values are expressed as mean ± SEM of triplicates; SA = Staphylococcus aureus (ATCC 11633); ST = Salmonella typhi (MTCC 733); SE = Staphylococcus epidermidis (ATCC 155); SD = Shigella dysenteriae (ATCC 13313); EC = Escherichia coli (ATCC10536); BC = Bacillus cereus (ATCC 11778); EF = Enterococccus faecalis (ATCC 14506); KP = Klebsiella pneumoniae (ATCC 10031); PA=Pseudomonas aeruginosa (ATCC 27853) Bangladesh J Pharmacol 2015; 10: 555-561 559 physiological resemblance to the intestinal roundworm parasites in humans were used for the evaluation of anthelminitic activity of the synthesized compounds. The newly synthesized Schiff bases showed moderate to good anthelmintic activity at 2 mg/mL concentra- tion. The results revealed that all the tested compounds were found to be effective against P. posthuma and P. excavatus, possessing significant activity in respect of mean paralyzing and mean death time. The mean paralyzing time (min) of tested compounds against P. excavatus and P. posthuma, was obser-ved to be 9.10- 20.35 and 11.6-20.6 min in comparison to 10.1 and 11.5 min shown by albendazole (Table III). The most and the least potent anthelmintic compound in terms of mean paralyzing time against P. excavatus was noted to be 4f (9.1 min) and 4h (20.4 min), while against P. posthuma, 4b and 4g had the similar spectrum of activity. The Results were comparable to that of the standard drug. The mean death time observed for albendazole against P. posthuma and P. excavatus was 17.9 and 15.7 min. Compounds 4a and 4b were found to be more potent than standard drug in causing death of nematodes, which took an average time of 15.5 and 16.3 min against P. excavatus and P. posthuma, respectively. Various con- densed products of hydrazino benzthiazoles and isatin also showed the better activity than standard drug albendazole (Suresh et al., 2011). The possible mecha- nism of anthelmintic activity of these compounds could be due to their ability to provide two potential donor sites viz. oxygen and nitrogen atoms of ketohydrazide Schiff bases, which help in formation of hydrogen bond (s) (Venugopala and Jayashree, 2003) and thus might lead to the paralysis/death of parasitic worms. The following is the proposed structure activity relationship (SAR) of the synthesized compounds: a) It was observed that substitution of aryl ring present at C- 5 position of furfuryl ring exhibits significant antibac- terial and anthelmintic activities; b) introduction of substituted aryl ring in the Schiff bases enhances antimicrobial and anthelmintic actions; c) presence of electron withdrawing groups leads to improved and broad spectrum of biological activity. Conclusion To sum up, the newly synthesized hydrazide Schiff bases were successfully synthesized and evaluated for their antibacterial and anthelmintic activities with signi- ficant results. The study demonstrates the antibacterial and anthelmintic potential of hydrazide Schiff bases. Acknowledgement The authors are thankful to IIT-Delhi and Jamia Hamdard, New Delhi for spectral measurement. Thanks are also due to College of Pharmaceutical Sciences, RKGIT, Ghaziabad (U.P) for providing facilities. 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