Design, Synthesis, and Antifungal Activity of Acrylamide Derivatives Containing Trifluoromethylpyridine and Piperazine.

In this study, a series of acrylamide derivatives containing trifluoromethylpyridine or piperazine fragments were rationally designed and synthesized. Subsequently, the antifungal activities of all of the synthesized compounds were evaluated. The findings revealed that compounds , , and exhibited >80% antifungal activity against sp. () at the concentration of 50 μg/mL. Furthermore, the EC values for compounds , , and against were determined to be 4.49, 6.47, and 8.68 μg/mL, respectively, which were better than the positive control with azoxystrobin (24.83 μg/mL). At the concentration of 200 μg/mL, the protective activity of compound against reached 65%, which was comparable to that of azoxystrobin (60.9%). Comprehensive mechanistic studies, including morphological studies with fluorescence microscopy (FM), cytoplasmic leakage, and enzyme activity assays, indicated that compound disrupts cell membrane integrity and induces the accumulation of defense enzyme activity, thereby inhibiting mycelial growth. Therefore, compound serves as a valuable candidate for the development of novel fungicides for plant protection.