Cytotoxic and Antifungal Amides Derived from Ferulic Acid: Molecular Docking and Mechanism of Action.

Amides derived from ferulic acid have a wide spectrum of pharmacological activities, including antitumor and antifungal activity. In the present study, a series of ten amides were obtained by coupling reactions using the reagents (benzotriazol-1-yloxy) tripyrrolidinophosphonium hexafluorophosphate (PyBOP) and 'dicyclohexylcarbodiimide (DCC). All the compounds were identified on the basis of their IR, H- and C-NMR, HRMS data, and with yields ranging from 43.17% to 91.37%. The compounds were subjected to cytotoxic tests by the alamar blue technique and antifungal screening by the broth microdilution method to determine the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC). The amides and displayed the best result in both biological evaluations, and compound was the most potent and selective in HL-60 cancer cells, with no cytotoxicity on healthy cells. This amide had antifungal activity in all strains and had the lowest MIC against and . The possible mechanism of antifungal action occurs via the fungal cell wall. Molecular modeling suggested that compounds and interact with the enzymes GWT1 and GSC1, which are essential for the development of . The findings of the present study demonstrated that compounds and may be used as a platform in drug development in the future.