Determination of Antibacterial Properties of Some Sulfonamide Compounds by Molecular Docking

Prontosil, the sulfonamide compound that started the antibacterial era, was the first commercially available antibacterial agent. Sulfonamide functional groups have gained importance in medicinal chemistry since the first announcement of antibacterial drugs. Synthetic sulfonamides are generally used for the treatment of bacterial infections in biological systems, as well as antifungal, anti-inflammatory antioxidant, diuretics, carbonic anhydrases, antitumor and so on. It has aroused high curiosity in biology and medicine due to its wide range of biological applications. In this study, molecular docking studies were applied to investigate the potential antibacterial properties of sulfonamide derivative compounds synthesized in previous study. The binding energies was anaylzed by Autodock 4.2 code which also performed molecular docking. Docking simulations of sulfonamide compounds at the active site of E. coli β-ketoacyl-acyl carrier protein synthase III (KAS III, PDB ID: 1HNJ) were performed to determine possible binding patterns and inhibitory effects. Docking results were also compared with triclosan used as a commercial antibacterial agent. Biovia Discovery Studio Visualizer 2020 and Autodock 4.2 software were used to analyze results of molecular docking.The binding energies of 3, 4, 5 and 6 sulfonamides used in the study to KAS III enzyme were found to be -6.94, -7.22, -7.76, -8.13, respectively. As a result of molecular docking study, these sulfonamide derivatives may have potential antibacterial properties.