New Carbohydrate Derivatives: Synthesis, Characterization and Antimicrobial Screening Studies against Human and Plant Pathogens

Carbohydrates play an essential role in living organisms as well as our daily life. Due to the
importance of carbohydrates, it is necessary to develop a new method for the synthesis of
carbohydrate-based drugs of the current global situation for health and disease. In the present study,
methyl 4,6-O-benzylidene-α-D-glucopyranoside was selectively converted to methyl 4,6-Obenzylidene-
2-O-(2,6-dichlorobenzoyl)-α-D-glucopyranoside by reaction with 2,6-dichlorobenzoyl
chloride using direct method in good yield. Using a wide variety of acylating agents, a series of 3-Oacyl
derivatives of this 2-substitution product were also prepared. These synthesized derivatives were
screened for in vitro antimicrobial activity against ten human pathogenic bacteria and three fungal
phytopathogens. The study revealed that the acylated derivatives exhibit promising antibacterial and
antifungal activities. The acylated derivatives were found to be more effective against the fungal
strains than those of the bacterial pathogens. However, a good number of methyl 4,6-O-benzylidene-
α-D-glucopyranoside derivatives exhibited better antimicrobial activity than the standard antibiotics.
Thus, the improvement of the bioactivity of these compounds is expected to significantly contribute to
the design of more antimicrobial agents for therapeutic use in the future.