Hybrid Mucohaloacid–MBH Antifungal Agents

Piperazine-bridged conjugates of mucohaloacid and Morita–Baylis–Hillman units as potential antifungal compounds

Both mucohaloacids (mucobromic and mucochloric acid) and Morita–Baylis–Hillman (MBH) adducts are known to present biological activity, including antifungal properties. A molecular hybridization strategy — the covalent union of two bioactive pharmacophores — can potentially result in compounds with enhanced or synergistic activity compared to either unit alone.

This project proposes the synthesis of hybrid compounds in which a mucohaloacid unit and a Morita–Baylis–Hillman unit are connected through a piperazine bridge. Piperazine was chosen as the linker due to its well-established presence in bioactive molecules and its ability to improve solubility and bioavailability. The target compounds will be evaluated for their antifungal activity, with the goal of assessing whether the hybridization strategy leads to enhanced potency compared to the isolated pharmacophores.

Synthetic work will draw on our group’s established expertise in both the MBH reaction and mucohaloacid chemistry, and structural characterization will be carried out by NMR spectroscopy and mass spectrometry. This project is intended as a Scientific Initiation project at UFSJ.