The role of anionic, imidic, and amidic forms in structure-activity relationships. Correlation of electronic indices and bacteriostatic activity in sulfonamides.

The problem of structure-activity relationships in sulfonamide type compounds is tackled on the ground that both bacteriostatic activities and structural indices must be referred to the specific individual forms assumed by sulfa drugs in the active solutions. The frequency value of the symmetric stretching mode of the sulfonyl group upsilons (SO2) is chosen as a suitable electronic index and measured for the individual active forms in aqueous and Me2SO solutions. The linear correlation that exists between bacteriostatic parameter and vibration frequency (over the complete range of data at present available) proves a strict relationship between electronic structure and bacteriostatic activity in this class of drugs. Furthermore, it justifies the assumption used for the calculation of the bacteriostatic activity of the anionic form; i.e., in equilibrium with a very active species (the anion) a less active species (the neutral form) gives a negligible contribution or does not contribute at all to the total activity. The results can be summarized as follows: the lower the frequency of the symmetric stretching mode of the SO2 group of any active species of sulfonamide type compounds, the higher its bacteriostatic activity. The existence of a clear structure-activity correlation demonstrates that the whole class of compounds, whatever their form, has a single mechanism of action, while incontrovertible deviations from the general trend indicate differences or complications in the mechanism itself, but does not demonstrate that the group on which the structural index is localized plays a dominant role in the biological process. The usefulness of pKa and NH2 proton chemical shift of precursor amine as indirect indices of the electronic structure of the anionic forms is explored on extensive sets of available data.