Synthesis and Biological Evaluation of Arylthiourea Derivatives with Antitubercular Activity

Tuberculosis (TB) is a contagious disease caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis (M. tuberculosis), and remains one of the most life-threatening plagues for public health in the world. The emergence of drug resistant strains of TB and co-infection with HIV has further complicated TB treatment. Here, the synthesis and characterizaton of a series of compounds were described, and these were followed by evaluating for their antibacterial activity against M. tuberculosis. Several novel arylthiourea derivatives exhibited excellent activity (lowest MIC=0.09 µg/ml) against M. tuberculosis including drug resistant strains of M. tuberculosis. The results suggest that these compounds are promising candidates for new anti-TB agent development.