Iraqi J Pharm Sci, Vol.23(2) 2014 N ew ceftriaxone derivatives 75 Synthesis, Characterization, and Antimicrobial Evaluation of New Ceftriaxone Derivatives Kasim S. Hmood * and Amer N. Elias *, 1 * Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, College of Pharmacy, University of Baghdad, Baghdad, Iraq. Abstract The present study was designed to synthesize a number of new Ceftriaxone derivatives by its involvement with a series of different amines, through the chemical derivatization of its 2- aminothiazolyl- group into an amide with chloroacetyl chloride, which on further conjugation with these selected amines will produce compounds with pharmacological effects that may extend the antimicrobial activity of the parent compound depending on the nature of these moieties. Ceftriaxone was first equipped with a spacer arm (linker) by the action of chloroacetyl chloride in aqueous medium and then further reacted with seven different aliphatic and aromatic amines which resulted in the production of the aimed final target products. The syntheses have been carried out following simple methodology in excellent isolated yields. The structure of the synthesized derivatives has been characterized by elemental microanalysis (CHN), FTIR spectroscopy, and other physicochemical properties. All the final synthesized compounds were screened for their antimicrobial activity against selected microorganisms and showed excellent antibacterial and antifungal activities in comparison to Ceftriaxone, Cephalexin and Fluconazole. The new Ceftriaxone derivatives have broadened the antimicrobial spectrum of the parent compound in having an extra antifungal activity in addition to its original antibacterial activity. Keywords: Ceftriaxone, 2-aminothiazole, Antimicrobial activity, Antifungal activity, Ceftriaxone derivatives. اكسونييم الفعالية المضادة للميكروبات لمشتقات جديدة للسيفترايوتوصيف وتق عينتص قاسم سلمان حمود * و عامر ناظم الياس *،1 .فشع اٌىٍّاء اٌظٍذالٍٔت ، وٍٍت اٌظٍذٌت ،جاِعت بغذاد ، بغذاد ، اٌعشاق * الخالصة طّّج اٌذساست اٌحاٌٍت ٌخظٍٕع عذد ِٓ ِشخماث اٌسٍفخشٌاوسْٛ اٌجذٌذة ٚ رٌه بّشاسوخٗ ِع سٍسٍت ِٓ االٍِٕاث اٌّخخٍفت ِٓ ٌمذ اٌخاطت بٗ بٛاسطت واشف وٍٛسٌذ اٌىٍٛسٚأسٍخًٍ ٚاٌزي عٕذ الخشأٗ بعذ رٌه -إٍِٛثاٌضًٌٍٚ-2خالي ححضٍش االِاٌذ ِٓ ِجّٛعت اي ًُي ٔخج ِٛادا ٌٙا حاثٍشاث فاسِاوٌٛٛجٍت لذ ٌٕجُ عٕٙا حٛسع فً ٔشاط اٌّشوب االَ ضذ اٌٍّىشٚباث اعخّادا عٍى بخٍه االٍِٕاث اٌّخخاسة س .طبٍعت ٘زٖ اٌّجاٍِع بفعً ِادة وٍٛسٌذ اٌىٍٛسٚأسٍخًٍ فً ِحٍظ ِائً ٚ ِٓ ثُ حّج ِفاعٍخٗ بعذ٘ا ( سابظ)ٚ ٌٙزا فمذ جٙض اٌسٍفخشٌاوسْٛ اٚال بزساع فاطً ٌمذ اجشي اٌخظٍٕع بٛاسطت اسخخذاَ اٌطشق إٌّٙجٍت . اٌٍفاحٍت ٚ اسِٚاحٍت ِخخٍفت اٌخً أخجج اٌّٛاد إٌٙائٍت اٌّبخغاةبسبعت إٍِاث .اٌبسٍطت ٚ بعٛائذ فظً ِّخاصة ُِيٍَضث اٌخشاوٍب اٌىٍٍّاٌٚت ٌٙزٖ اٌّشوباث باسخخذاَ اٌخحًٍٍ اٌذلٍك ٌٍعٕاطش ٚ غٍش٘ا ِٓ , اطٍاف االشعت ححج اٌحّشاء, (CHN)ٌمذ حُ فحض فعاٌٍت وافت إٌٛاحج إٌٙائٍت اٌّضادة ٌٍٍّىشٚباث ضذ عذد ِخخاس ِٓ ٘زٖ االحٍاء اٌذلٍمت ٚ اٌخً . اٌخٛاص اٌفٍضٌٛوٍٍّاٌٚت . وٛٔاصٚياٌسٍفاٌٍىسٍٓ ٚ اٌفٍٛ, اظٙشث فعاٌٍت حسٕت جذا ضذ اٌبىخٍشٌا ٚ اٌفطشٌاث باٌّماسٔت ِع اٌسٍفخشٌاوسْٛ أظٙشث اٌّشخماث اٌجذٌذة ٌعماس اٌسٍفخشٌاوسْٛ حٛسعاً فً طٍف اٌّشوب االَ فً فعاٌٍخٗ ضذ اٌٍّىشٚباث ِٓ خالي اِخالن فعاٌٍت جذٌذة .ضذ اٌفطشٌاث اضافتً اٌى ٔشاطٗ االطًٍ ضذ اٌبىخٍشٌا ة للفطريات ، مشتقات دة للميكروبات ، الفعالية المضادا،الفعالية المضالفعالية امينوثايزول ،-2، السيفترياكسون :مفتاحية لالكلمات ا .السيفتراياكسون Introduction The irresponsible usage of drugs and among which the antimicrobial agents has affected the general population and specially the immunocompromised patients since it resulted in the corresponding increase of diseases caused by bacteria, fungi and viral species. Frankly speaking the widespread use of antibacterial and antifungal drugs has resulted in the increased resistance of the bacterial and fungal infections towards these drugs and has led to serious health hazards. The resistance that faced the wide spectrum antibacterial agents which increased dramatically in recent years has prompted the discovery and modification towards new antifungal and antibacterial drugs (1, 2) , since the infections caused by these tough mutant microorganisms pose a serious challenge to the medical community and highlighted the importance and urgent need for new, more potent and selective non-traditional antimicrobial agents (3) . 1 Corresponding author E-mail: amerelias40@yahoo.com Received: 4/5/2014 Accepted:22 /10/2014 mailto:amerelias40@yahoo.com Iraqi J Pharm Sci, Vol.23(2) 2014 N ew ceftriaxone derivatives 76 The rational planning of new synthetic prototypes in drug design and development has been based on the combination of pharmacophoric moieties of different bioactive substances (4) and using a series of methods of structural modification that aim, a priori, at the generation of new compounds presenting optimized pharmacodynamic and pharmacokinetic properties, exploring bioactive substances‟ fragments (Fragment- Based Drug Design) (5) , active metabolites of drugs (6) , bioisosterism (7, 8) , selective optimization of side effects of drugs (9) and drug latentiation (10) . The drug latentiation strategy, in principle, uses a functional group in a drug as merely a handle for the introduction of a moiety that confers on the new entity some desirable characteristic to improve its pharmaceutical utility; more frequently, the group is intimately connected with the pharmaceutical deficiency and its masking directly addresses the deficiency. Of the commonly occurring drug functional groups, perhaps greatest effort has been directed at temporarily masking the amino group. The most easily identified liability of candidate amino drugs is their tendency to ionize under physiological conditions, leading to poor membrane penetration by passive diffusion. The impact of this is amplified for the large number of amino drugs that are required to penetrate the blood brain barrier in order to reach their pharmacological targets. A second issue that can affect the development of amino drugs is instability. An example of this is the tendency of primary amines to undergo first-pass metabolism due to N-acetylation and oxidation by monoaminooxidase (MAO) (11) . Low water solubility, poor stability and low permeability through biological membranes often hinder the clinical development of biologically active amino compounds (12, 13) . The major advantage in designing derivatives of amino drugs is the general robustness of amine derivatives particularly those, such as amides, in which the capacity to ionize has been obviated (14, 15) . On the other hand, the very robustness of amino derivatives means that subtle drug targeting effects can be achieved if an appropriate local vector can be identified and accommodated in the design process (16) . Derivatives of amino compounds such as piperazine, 2-aminothiazole and others were reported earlier in the literature in that they have an extended and diverse biological activity when compared to their parent compounds (17-28) . Sometimes, they may even attain a complete change in their biological responses as illustrated for the N-alkyl and N- aryl derivatives of piperazine in that they possess antibacterial and antifungal activities which are even not present in their parent compound, the well-known anthelmintic piperazine (17, 18, 20, 21, 26, and 27) . Thiazole derivatives have been found to possess many pharmacological properties and are widely implicated in biochemical processes. The 2-Aminothiazole can be used as a thyroid inhibitor in the treatment of hyperthyroidism or for its antibacterial activity (29, 30) . Recent studies using prion-infected neuroblastoma cell lines have suggested that the 2-aminothiazole may be used as a therapeutic drug for prion diseases (31) . Members of this class of thiazoles are known to possess antibacterial activity against both gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria, for e.g. Ceftriaxone, a semi-synthetic third generation cephalosporin that even shows excellent activity for the treatment of infection due to methicillin-susceptible staphylococcus aureus (32) . Ceftriaxone is marketed for parenteral use with a relatively long half-life and it is stable to the β-lactamases particularly those produced by Gram-negative organisms (33, 34) , which is due to the fact it is a competitive, irreversible beta-lactamase inhibitor and has good inhibitory activities against the clinically important plasmid mediated β-lactamase that is most frequently responsible for the transferred drug resistance (33, 34) . It has excellent anti Gram-negative activity. It contains a highly acidic heterocyclic system on the 3-thiomethyl group; where this unusual ring system is believed to confer the unique pharmacokinetic properties to this agent. It kills bacteria by interfering in the synthesis of the cell wall. Ceftriaxone has been effective in treating infections due to other „difficult‟ organisms such as the multidrug-resistant Enterobacteriaceae (35) . So far, the modifications of the thiazole ring have proven to be highly effective with improved potency and lesser toxicity (30) . In continuation of the increased interest in the chemistry of functionalized chloroacetamide derivatives in drug discovery, because of the high mobility of chlorine atom and the reactive N-H group, therefore, compounds containing chloroacetamide moiety are known to be useful synthetic scaffolds for the design of many heterocyclic systems (36, 37) . In this context Patten and coworkers have reviewed the synthesis of a variety of the 2- aminothiazoles and their substituted derivatives (by first introducing the α- chloroamides of this amine and later by conjugating it with other amino compounds Iraqi J Pharm Sci, Vol.23(2) 2014 N ew ceftriaxone derivatives 77 such as piperidine, morpholine and others), and evaluating the antibacterial and antifungal activities of these synthesized products (38) . It was observed that the substituted thiazoles have very good antibacterial and antifungal activities against all the tested samples whereas the chemotherapeutic agents used were active against some specific samples (38) . Therefore, the present study was designed to synthesize a number of new Ceftriaxone derivatives; by first converting its 2- aminothiazolyl- moiety into the α-chloroamide derivative which on further conjugation with selected amines will result in the production of the final compounds; that may possibly broaden the antimicrobial spectrum of their parent Ceftriaxone. Materials and Methods Materials and Equipments 2-Aminothiazole and Potassium carbonate were purchased from Himedia (India), Chloroacetyl chloride and Imidazole were purchased from Fluka AG (Switzerland), Morpholine was purchased from Lobachemie (India), Piperidine was purchased from BDH (England), Hydrazine hydrate (80% w/v) was purchased from Qualikems (India), and Pyrrolidine and N-methylpiprazine were purchased from sigma (Germany ). Ceftriaxone sodium was donated thankfully by the Arab Company for Antibiotics Industries (ACAI) (Baghdad, Iraq). The quality of all these chemicals together with the other ones used throughout the study and obtained from standard commercial sources were of analar grade and used without further purification. The melting points were determined by the open capillary method using Thomas hoover melting point apparatus (England) and were used uncorrected. Cooling of reactions when needed was done using a Julabo chiller VC (F30) (GMBH, Germany). Infra-red spectra were recorded in KBr disc on Shimadzu FTIR 8400 spectrometer (Japan), at the College of Pharmacy, University of Baghdad and the College of Science, University of Al-Mustansiriyah. Elemental microanalysis was performed at the Jordanian University using CHN Elemental Analyzer (Euro-vector EA3000A, Italy) and at the Department of Chemistry, College of Science, Al-Mustansiriyah University, using CHNS Elemental Analyzer (Euro-vector EA, Italy). The progress of the reaction was monitored by ascending thin layer chromatography which was run on Kieslgel GF254 (60) aluminum plates (E. Merck, Germany), which was used as well to check the purity of the product. The synthesized compound was revealed either by derivatization or reactivity toward iodine vapor or by irradiation with UV254 light. Chromatograms were eluted using methanol: acetone: water (2:2:1) solvent system. Chemical tests such as the sodium fusion and the carboxylic acid tests were run to check the presence or absence of chlorine (39) and the free carboxylic acid group (40) in all the synthesized compounds. The antimicrobial evaluation was performed at the Department of biology, College of Science, University of Baghdad. Experimental Section A. Chemical synthesis 1. Synthesis of (6R,7R)-7-((Z)-2-(2-(2- chloroacetamido)thiazol-4-yl)-2- (methoxyimino)acetamido)-3-(((2-methyl-5,6- dioxo-1,2,5,6-tetrahydro-1,2,4-triazin-3- yl)thio)methyl)-8-oxo-5-thia-1- azabicyclo[4.2.0]oct-2-ene-2-carboxylic acid (Intermediate compound A) Intermediate (A) was synthesized according to the synthetic pathway depicted in Scheme 1 and in accordance to the previously reported procedure in reference 41 for the synthesis of α-chloroamides in water. An accurately weighed amount of ceftriaxone disodium (10 mmol, 6.62 gm) dissolved in 20 ml of distilled water was placed in a 100ml round bottom flask. Triethylamine (Et3N or TEA) (10 mmol, 1.4 ml) was added to this solution and the mixture was cooled in an ice salt bath at (-10 o C). Chloroacetyl chloride (40 mmol, 3.2 ml) was added drop wise to the above mentioned mixture with constant stirring over a period of one hour, while keeping the temperature at (- 10 o C). The mixture was left to stir overnight and the product was isolated as a faint yellowish white precipitate. The pH of the supernatant liquid was measured and it was found to be strongly acidic around 3.5-4.0. The precipitated material was washed three times with 50 ml of distilled water, and then left to dry. This derivative was recrystallized from acetone: methanol (1:1). The percent yield, physical appearance, melting point, and Rf value of the synthesized intermediate compound are listed in Table 1, while its elemental microanalysis and the FTIR spectral data assignments of bands are shown in Tables 2 and 3 respectively. Iraqi J Pharm Sci, Vol.23(2) 2014 N ew ceftriaxone derivatives 78 Scheme (1): The synthetic scheme of the intermediate compound (A) 2. The chemical synthesis of the final Ceftriaxone derivatives (Target compounds B1-B7) (42) . To a stirred mixture of the intermediate compound (A) (5 mmol, 1.57 gm) and K2CO3 (10 mmol, 0.98 gm) in 50 ml of acetone, was added one of the following amines (5 mmol): Morpholine (0.48 ml), Pyrrolidine (0.42 ml), Piperidine (0.44 ml), Hydrazine hydrate (0.5 ml), N-methylpiprazine (0.54 ml), Imidazole (0.335 gm), and 2-Aminothiazole (0.5 gm) and then the resultant mixture was refluxed for 16- 18 hours at 60-70 o C. Later the solvent was evaporated under reduced pressure, and the precipitate obtained was collected and washed several times (3X) with 5 ml portions of acetone. The solid obtained after washing showed only one TLC spot which corresponds originally to the intended product appeared during the reaction follow- up. Later the obtained product was recrystallized from aqueous ethanol. The synthetic scheme of the final Ceftriaxone derivatives (target compounds B1-B7) is shown in scheme 2. The percent yield, physical appearance, melting points, and Rf values of the synthesized compounds are listed in Table 1, while their elemental microanalysis and the FTIR spectral data assignments of bands are shown in Tables 2 and 3 respectively. Scheme( 2): The synthetic scheme of the final Ceftriaxone derivatives (target compounds B1-B7) Iraqi J Pharm Sci, Vol.23(2) 2014 N ew ceftriaxone derivatives 79 Table( 1): The percent yield, physical appearance, uncorrected Melting points, and Rf values of the synthesized intermediate (A) and target compounds (B1-B7) Compound Chemical Name Chemical Formula Physical appearance % Yield Melting point O C Rf A (6R,7R)-7-((Z)-2-(2-(2- chloroacetamido)thiazol-4-yl)-2- (methoxyimino)-acetamido)-3-(((2- methyl-5,6-dioxo-1,2,5,6-tetrahydro- 1,2,4-triazin-3-yl)thio)methyl)-8-oxo- 5-thia-1-azabicyclo[4.2.0]oct-2-ene-2- carboxylic acid C20H19ClN8O8S3 White powder 65 172-174 0.26 B1 (6R,7R)-7-((Z)-2-(methoxyimino)-2- (2-(2-morpholinoacetamido)-thiazol- 4-yl)acetamido)-3-(((2-methyl-5,6- dioxo-1,2,5,6-tetrahydro-1,2,4-triazin- 3-yl)thio)methyl)-8-oxo-5-thia-1- azabicyclo[4.2.0]oct-2-ene-2- carboxylic acid C24H27N9O9S3 yellow powder 88 245 0.5 B2 (6R,7R)-7-((Z)-2-(methoxyimino)-2- (2-(2-(pyrrolidin-1-yl)- acetamido)thiazol-4-yl)acetamido)-3- (((2-methyl-5,6-dioxo-1,2,5,6- tetrahydro-1,2,4-triazin-3- yl)thio)methyl)-8-oxo-5-thia-1- azabicyclo[4.2.0]oct-2-ene-2- carboxylic acid C24H27N9O8S3 brown powder 93 230 0.55 B3 (6R,7R)-7-((Z)-2-(methoxyimino)-2- (2-(2-(piperidin-1-yl)- acetamido)thiazol-4-yl)acetamido)-3- (((2-methyl-5,6-dioxo-1,2,5,6- tetrahydro-1,2,4-triazin-3- yl)thio)methyl)-8-oxo-5-thia-1- azabicyclo[4.2.0]oct-2-ene-2- carboxylic acid C25H29N9O8S3 pale yellow powder 88 220 0.64 B4 (6R,7R)-7-((Z)-2-(2-(2- hydrazinylacetamido)-thiazol-4-yl)-2- (methoxyimino)-acetamido)-3-(((2- methyl-5,6-dioxo-1,2,5,6-tetrahydro- 1,2,4-triazin-3-yl)thio)methyl)-8-oxo- 5-thia-1-azabicyclo[4.2.0]oct-2-ene-2- carboxylic acid C20H22N10O8S3 Dark yellow powder 87 220 0.66 B5 (6R,7R)-7-((Z)-2-(methoxyimino)-2- (2-(2-(4-methylpiperazin-1- yl)acetamido)thiazol-4-yl)acetamido)- 3-(((2-methyl-5,6-dioxo-1,2,5,6- tetrahydro-1,2,4-triazin-3- yl)thio)methyl)-8-oxo-5-thia-1- azabicyclo[4.2.0]oct-2-ene-2- carboxylic acid C25H30N10O8S3 pale brown powder 86 247-249 0.68 Iraqi J Pharm Sci, Vol.23(2) 2014 N ew ceftriaxone derivatives 80 Table (2): The elemental microanalysis (CHNS) of the synthesized intermediate (A) and target compounds (B1-B7) Compound Chemical Formula Mol. wt. Value type C H N S A C20H19ClN8O8S3 630.02 calculated observed 38.07 38.319 3.03 3.042 17.76 17.791 15.24 15.312 B1 C24H27N9O9S3 681.72 calculated observed 42.28 41.958 3.99 3.898 18.49 18.267 14.11 14.551 B2 C24H27N9O8S3 665.72 calculated observed 43.3 44.147 4.09 4.12 18.94 19.22 14.45 14.5 B3 C25H29N9O8S3 679.75 calculated observed 44.17 44.674 4.3 4.360 18.55 18.393 * B4 C20H22N10O8S3 626.65 calculated observed 38.33 38.198 3.54 3.444 22.35 22.103 * B5 C25H30N10O8S3 694.76 calculated observed 43.22 43.352 4.35 4.411 20.16 19.985 * B6 C23H22N10O8S3 662.68 calculated observed 41.69 40.923 3.35 3.282 21.14 21.938 14.52 14.274 B7 C23H22N10O8S4 694.74 calculated observed 39.76 40.145 3.19 3.22 20.16 20.704 18.46 18.314 * The analysis was done at the Jordanian University which lacks the detection of sulfur. B6 (6R,7R)-7-((Z)-2-(2-(2-(1H-imidazol- 1-yl)acetamido)thiazol-4-yl)-2- (methoxyimino)-acetamido)-3-(((2- methyl-5,6-dioxo-1,2,5,6-tetrahydro- 1,2,4-triazin-3-yl)thio)methyl)-8-oxo- 5-thia-1-azabicyclo[4.2.0]oct-2-ene-2- carboxylic acid C23H22N10O8S3 Light brown powder 90 231-233 0.56 B7 (6R,7R)-7-((Z)-2-(methoxyimino)-2- (2-(2-(thiazol-2-ylamino)- acetamido)thiazol-4-yl)acetamido)-3- (((2-methyl-5,6-dioxo-1,2,5,6- tetrahydro-1,2,4-triazin-3- yl)thio)methyl)-8-oxo-5-thia-1- azabicyclo[4.2.0]oct-2-ene-2- carboxylic acid C23H22N10O8S4 Yellow powder 89 184-186 0.58 Iraqi J Pharm Sci, Vol.23(2) 2014 N ew ceftriaxone derivatives 81 Table (3): The characteristic IR bands of the synthesized intermediate (A) and target compounds (B1-B7). Sym. Chemical structure IR band [KBr] v cm -1 Interpretation A 3379 (N-H) stretching vibration of secondary amide 3103 heteroaromatic (C-H) stretching vibration 2940 aliphatic (C-H) asymmetric stretching vibration 2840 aliphatic (C-H) symmetric stretching vibration 1774 (C=O) Stretching vibration of β-lactam 1713 (C=O) stretching vibration of –COOH group 1658 (C=O) stretching vibration of secondary amide 1631 Oxime C=N stretching mode 1586 Stretching vibration of (C=C) in the Thiazole ring 1448 (C-H) bending vibration of –CH2 group 1413 (C-H) bending vibration of –CH3 group 1311 (C-O) stretching of –COOH group 1246, 1222 (C-H) wag in terminal -CH2Cl 1184 (C-O) stretching vibration 1097, 1045 (C-O) stretching in -OCH3 and (N-O) in oxime 852 (C-Cl) stretching vibration B1 3439 (N-H) stretching vibration of secondary amide 2980 aliphatic (C-H) asymmetric stretching vibration 2890 aliphatic (C-H) symmetric stretching vibration 1761 (C=O) Stretching vibration of β-lactam 1712 (C=O) stretching vibration of –COOH group 1643 (C=O) stretching vibration of secondary amide 1608 Oxime C=N stretching mode 1595 Stretching vibration of (C=C) in the Thiazole ring 1460 (C-H) bending vibration of –CH2 group 1375 (C-H) in-plane bending vibration of -CH2 group 1300 (C-O) stretching of –COOH group 1215 (C-N) stretching of amino group 1184 (C-O) stretching vibration 1107, 1039 (C-O) and (N-O) stretching in -OCH3 and oxime 808 heteroaromatic (C-H) out of plane bending B2 3375 (N-H) stretching vibration of secondary amide 2941 aliphatic (C-H) asymmetric stretching vibration 2854 aliphatic (C-H) symmetric stretching vibration 1769 (C=O) Stretching vibration of β-lactam 1716 (C=O) stretching vibration of –COOH group 1670 (C=O) stretching vibration of secondary amide 1637 Oxime C=N stretching mode 1586 Stretching vibration of (C=C) in the Thiazole ring 1460 (C-H) bending vibration of –CH2 group 1369 (C-H) bending vibration of –CH3 group 1261 (C-O) stretching of –COOH group 1220 (C-N) stretching of amino group 1070, 1041 (C-O) and (N-O) stretching in -OCH3 and oxime Iraqi J Pharm Sci, Vol.23(2) 2014 N ew ceftriaxone derivatives 82 833 heteroaromatic (C-H) out-of-plane bending B3 3400 (N-H) stretching vibration of secondary amide 2941 aliphatic (C-H) asymmetric stretching vibration 2840 aliphatic (C-H) symmetric stretching vibration 1769 (C=O) Stretching vibration of β-lactam 1712 (C=O) stretching vibration of –COOH group (shoulder) 1654 (C=O) stretching vibration of secondary amide 1604 Oxime C=N stretching mode 1537 Stretching vibration of (C=C) in the Thiazole ring 1460 (C-H) bending vibration of –CH2 group 1367 (C-H) in-plane bending vibration of –CH3 group 1292 (C-O) stretching of –COOH group 1215 (C-N) stretching of amino group 1101, 1039 (C-O) and (N-O) stretching in -OCH3 and oxime 823 heteroaromatic (C-H) out-of-plane bending B4 3462-3311 (N-H) stretching vibrations of primary –NH2 group around 3462 and 3400 cm -1 coupled with the band between 3350-3310 cm -1 for the secondary amine of the reacted hydrazine 3425 (N-H) stretching vibration of secondary amide 2945 aliphatic (C-H) asymmetric stretching vibration 2825 aliphatic (C-H) symmetric stretching vibration 1759 (C=O) Stretching vibration of β-lactam 1710 (C=O) stretching vibration of –COOH group (shoulder) 1635 (C=O) stretching vibration of secondary amide 1604 Oxime C=N stretching mode (shoulder) 1550 Stretching vibration of (C=C) in the Thiazole ring 1525 (N-H) bending vibration of secondary amide 1456 (C-H) bending vibration of –CH2 group 1375 (C-H) bending vibration of –CH3 group 1272 (C-O) stretching of –COOH group 1207 (C-N) stretching of amino group 1134, 1041 (C-O) and (N-O) stretching in -OCH3 and oxime 806 heteroaromatic (C-H) out-of-plane bending B5 3419 (N-H) stretching vibration of secondary amide 2945 aliphatic (C-H) asymmetric stretching vibration 2823 aliphatic (C-H) symmetric stretching vibration 1761 (C=O) Stretching vibration of β-lactam 1710 (C=O) stretching vibration of –COOH group (shoulder) 1651 (C=O) stretching vibration of secondary amide 1604 Oxime C=N stretching mode (shoulder) 1558 Stretching vibration of (C=C) in the Thiazole ring 1440 (C-H) bending vibration of –CH2 group 1371 (C-H) in-plane bending vibration of –CH3 group 1290 (C-O) stretching of –COOH group 1215 (C-N) stretching of amino group 1107, 1037 (C-O) and (N-O) stretching in -OCH3 and oxime 833 heteroaromatic (C-H) out-of-plane bending 3394 (N-H) stretching vibration of secondary amide 2943 aliphatic (C-H) asymmetric stretching vibration Iraqi J Pharm Sci, Vol.23(2) 2014 N ew ceftriaxone derivatives 83 B6 2872 aliphatic (C-H) symmetric stretching vibration 1751 (C=O) Stretching vibration of β-lactam 1715 (C=O) stretching vibration of –COOH group 1664 (C=O) stretching vibration of secondary amide 1650 (C=O) stretching vibration of amide 1606 Oxime C=N stretching mode 1535 Stretching vibration of (C=C) in the Thiazole ring 1440 (C-H) bending vibration of –CH2 group (shoulder) 1375 (C-H) in-plane bending vibration of –CH3 group 1292 (C-O) stretching of –COOH group 1215 (C-N) stretching of amino group 1109, 1041 (C-O) and (N-O) stretching in -OCH3 and oxime 833 heteroaromatic (C-H) out-of-plane bending B7 3454 (N-H) stretching vibration of secondary amide 3342 (N-H) stretching vibration of secondary amine 2943 aliphatic (C-H) asymmetric stretching vibration 2823 aliphatic (C-H) symmetric stretching vibration 1751 (C=O) Stretching vibration of β-lactam 1720 (C=O) stretching vibration of –COOH group 1653 (C=O) stretching vibration of secondary amide 1616 Oxime C=N stretching mode 1550 Stretching vibration of (C=C) in the Thiazole ring 1464 (C-H) bending vibration of –CH2 group 1377 (C-H) in-plane bending vibration of –CH3 group 1276 (C-O) stretching of –COOH group 1207 (C-N) stretching of amino group 1103, 1041 (C-O) and (N-O) stretching in -OCH3 and oxime 856 heteroaromatic (C-H) out-of-plane bending Notes: 1. It was noticed that the (C=O) stretching vibration of the newly formed amide in the intermediate (A) and the final compounds (B1-B7) and that of the other amide already present in Ceftriaxone were overlapping each other. 2. It is clear that the (C-Cl) stretching vibration appeared in the intermediate (A) at 852 cm -1 has disappeared in the final target compounds (B1-B7). B. The antimicrobial evaluation of the newly synthesized ceftriaxone derivative The antimicrobial activity was determined for the newly synthesized Ceftriaxone derivatives by the well diffusion method for screening the in vitro antibacterial activity against the selected Gram positive (Staphylococcus aureus) and Gram negative bacteria (E. coli) and screening the antifungal activity against the selected fungus (Candida albicans) (43) . Ceftriaxone, Cephalexin were used as references for testing the antibacterial activity while Fluconazole was used as a reference for testing the antifungal activity. The synthesized compounds and references were dissolved in DMSO (also was used as a control), to prepare a 500 μg/ml stock solution. Two dilutions of the synthesized compounds and reference compounds were prepared to have 250 and 125 μg/ml respectively (44) . Wells were made in Mueller Hinton agar for bacteria and sabouraud dextrose agar for C. albicans. Plates were seeded with 0.1 ml of 10 8 CFU / ml of bacteria, and with 10 6 CFU / ml of C. albicans. Triplicates of each concentration for each microorganism species were prepared. The inoculated plates were incubated at 37° C for 24 hr. The diameter of the inhibition zones were measured for each plate (45) . The inhibitory zones for each of the synthesized and reference compounds against each of the tested microorganisms are listed in Tables 4 and 5. Iraqi J Pharm Sci, Vol.23(2) 2014 N ew ceftriaxone derivatives 84 Table (4): The antibacterial activity data of the synthesized target compounds Compound Zone of inhibition in mm Staphylococcus aureus E. coli 125 μg/ml 250 μg/ml 125 μg/ml 250 μg/ml B1 26 32 22 29 B2 18 18 15 17 B3 31 35 27 30 B4 23 27 22 25 B5 27 30 29 30 B6 26 27 22 29 B7 26 27 27 28 DMSO - - - - Fluconazole - - - - Cephalexin 30 38 33 37 Ceftriaxone 32 34 32 33 Table (5): The antifungal activity data of the synthesized target compounds Compound Zone of inhibition in mm C. albicans 125 μg/ml 250 μg/ml B1 26 27 B2 16 16 B3 30 32 B4 25 28 B5 25 31 B6 25 26 B7 22 27 DMSO - - Fluconazole 33 37 Cephalexin - - Ceftriaxone - - Notes: 1. DMSO was used as a control for both the antibacterial and antifungal evaluations and it did not show any inhibitory activity against both the bacteria and fungus used in these tests. 2. Running Ceftriaxone and Cephalexin in the antimicrobial tests showed that these two chemotherapeutic agents didn't have any antifungal activity originally, while Fluconazole on the other hand showed that it lacks any antibacterial activity. Results and Discussion The scope of the research includes first of all equipping Ceftriaxone with the desired spacer moiety by acylating its 2-aminothiazolyl- group with chloroacetyl chloride which subsequently forming its α-chloroamide derivative (intermediate A). Secondly the latter was further conjugated with several amines in order to produce the final target compounds (B1-B7). The strategy that lies behind the synthesis of this system is in the fact that the chemical synthesis of amides are conducted in organic solutions or in a mixture of organic and aqueous solutions (Schotten–Baumann conditions) where the organic reagents are generally dissolved in the organic solution and treated with aqueous base (46) . The development of alternative methods for achieving amide synthesis in high yield and/or in a stereospecific manner is of great current interest. It was reported earlier that the classical reaction between the corresponding amine and chloroacetyl chloride (2 equiv.) in dry tetrahydrofuran (or dichloromethane) at - 10 o C in the presence of freshly distilled triethylamine, gave very low yields of the desired α-chloroamides. Furthermore, changing to solvents such as Iraqi J Pharm Sci, Vol.23(2) 2014 N ew ceftriaxone derivatives 85 dimethylformamide, dichloromethane, chloroform or diethyl ether did not increase significantly the yield of the products, and the reaction only proceeded in ethyl acetate, but in low yields (47) . Hence, the focus was directed towards alternative synthetic methods and it was found that the amide coupling could be conducted in water in the presence of a medium of bases such as Et3N, KHCO3, K2CO3 or NaOH, where the desired products were formed as solids in acceptable yields, under ambient conditions (41) . Varying the reaction conditions such as solvent and base did not yield any improvement. The problem seemed to stem from the insolubility of the amine, which was only fully soluble in alcohols and water (48) . However, due to the lack of solubility of the amine in the organic solution; it was decided to carry out a modification of this method using only water as the solvent. Moreover, instead of using an excess of the amine, four equiv. of chloroacetyl chloride were used, which were added dropwise over 1 h to the aqueous amine solution. The solution was left to stir overnight and the desired product was isolated as a precipitate in yields of 65% with no need for further purification. Hence, the two-phase procedure mentioned earlier was not necessary and in fact the modification which was carried out here enabled the successful isolation of the desired product with minimal effort. Accordingly, the free 2-aminothiazolyl- group of Ceftriaxone sodium was found to react in water with the spacer compound (chloroacetyl chloride) in the presence of a suitable base such as Et3N and this will result in the formation of the intended corresponding α-chloroamide (49) . The mechanism of this reaction is an acyl nucleophilic substitution which occurs selectively at the acyl carbon atom in chloroacetyl chloride because of the greater reactivity of nucleophiles toward acid chlorides compared to alkyl chlorides. The reasons for this selectivity are attributed to the differences in the electrophilicity of the two carbon atoms in chloroacetyl chloride. Besides that the electronic, and steric factors also play a role in this selectivity, since it is easier for the nucleophile to attack the carbon of the planar carbonyl group in the acid chloride than to attack the tetrahedral carbon in the –CH2Cl group. The reaction is carried out with triethylamine, which acts as a base to neutralize the hydrogen chloride (HCl) formed (50, 51) . Later the selected amines are coupled with the synthesized intermediate compound (A) for the synthesis of the target compounds (B1-B7), since the amine N functions as a nucleophile and attacks the electrophilic C of the alkyl chloride displacing the chloride and creating the new C-N bond via an alkyl nucleophilic substitution reaction (SN2), to yield the corresponding amine alkylated product. The SN2 mechanism is concerted and proceeds through a single rate-determining transition step and it begins when the reactant is attacked by a nucleophile from the side opposite the leaving group, with bond making occurring simultaneously with bond breaking between the carbon atom and the leaving group. The transition state has trigonal bipyramidal geometry shape with a pentacoordinated carbon. With the loss of the leaving group, the carbon atom again assumes a pyramidal shape; however, its configuration is inverted and this inversion is often called the Walden inversion as shown in Scheme 3 (52-55) . Nucleophile Reactant Transition state Product Leaving group (Note: The product presents the Walden inversion in being Stereochemically inverted) Scheme( 3): The mechanism of the SN2 reaction The structures of the synthesized compounds were confirmed by using FTIR, elemental microanalysis (CHNS), and other physicochemical parameters (Tables 1, 2, and 3). The FTIR spectrum of Ceftriaxone sodium obtained in KBr pellets was in excellent agreement with that reported earlier in the literature (56) . The synthesized compounds (A and B1-B7) showed several characteristic sharp bands in the IR region, where the appearance of the band near 3500-3400 cm -1 that represent the free NH stretching vibration of the formed secondary amide was accompanied with the disappearance of the two peaks near 3500 and 3400 cm -1 of the N-H stretching modes of primary amine of the 2- aminothiazolyl- moiety, and this was accompanied together with the appearance of the signal near 1640 cm -1 that represent the C=O stretching frequency of the carbonyl group in simple, open chain, secondary amides. It is also noticed that the (C-Cl) stretching vibration appeared in the intermediate (A) at 852 cm -1 has disappeared in all the final target compounds (B1-B7). The appearance of the signal in the region of 1720- 1706 cm -1 represents the carbonyl group http://www.chem.ucalgary.ca/courses/350/Carey5th/Ch08/ch8-11.html http://www.chem.ucalgary.ca/courses/350/Carey5th/Ch08/ch8-4.html Iraqi J Pharm Sci, Vol.23(2) 2014 N ew ceftriaxone derivatives 86 stretching vibration of bonded aliphatic acids which is accompanied also with the appearance of very broad, intense O-H stretching absorption in the region of 3300- 2500 cm -1 that corresponds also to carboxylic acid dimers. The two stretching vibrations that represent the carboxylate anion present previously in Ceftriaxone sodium at 1602 and 1398 cm -1 have disappeared from the spectrums of all synthesized compounds. It is worthwhile to mention that the chemical tests performed on all the synthesized compounds showed the appearance of chlorine in the intermediate compound (A) and its disappearance in the corresponding final compounds, while the carboxylic acid test showed the presence of the free carboxylic acid group in the synthesized intermediate and final derivatives. The elemental microanalysis (Table 2) revealed good agreement with the calculated percentages. The newly synthesized Ceftriaxone derivatives showed moderate to good antibacterial and antifungal activities. Both compounds B3 and B5 showed good activity compared to both Cephalexin and Ceftriaxone but compound B3 was more potent than Ceftriaxone in its antibacterial activity against Staphylococcus aureus. In addition all compounds showed moderate to good antifungal activity but compounds B3 and B5 were more potent than others. The antimicrobial data presented earlier showed that the synthesized target compounds with the structural changes done with the parent Ceftriaxone molecule have gained an expansion in their antimicrobial activity to include antifungal properties in addition to the already retained antibacterial ones. The data showed also that Ceftriaxone itself lacks any activity against fungi in its antimicrobial spectrum. Conclusion The results obtained in the present study showed that it is possible to synthesize new derivatives of Ceftriaxone by linking its molecule through a spacer to appropriately chosen amines, since these amines may give by their presence additional properties to the Ceftriaxone parent compound. This was evidenced since the synthesized Ceftriaxone derivatives showed marked antibacterial and antifungal activities when compared with Ceftriaxone itself, Cephalexin and with Fluconazole. 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Methods, 2012, 4: 2490-2498. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0040403909007898 http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0040403909007898 http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0040403909007898 http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0040403909007898 http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0040403909007898 http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0040403909007898 http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0040403909007898 http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/00404039 http://pubs.rsc.org/en/results?searchtext=Author%3AF.%20Juliusburger http://pubs.rsc.org/en/results?searchtext=Author%3AS.%20Masterman http://pubs.rsc.org/en/results?searchtext=Author%3AB.%20Topley http://pubs.rsc.org/en/results?searchtext=Author%3AJ.%20Weiss