The design, synthesis of amide KARI inhibitors and their biological activities

摘要

Ketol-acid reductoisomerase(KARI) is a promising target for the design of herbicides yet there are only few reports on the molecular design of KARI inhibitors. In this paper, based on the reported 0.165 nm high resolution crystal structure of the spinach KARI complex, 279 molecules with low binding energy toward KARI were obtained from an MDL/ACD 3D database search using the program DOCK 4.0. According to the structural information of 279 molecules provided, some amide compounds have been designed and synthesized. The bioassay results show that most of these amides had inhibitory activity to rice KARI at a test concentration of 200 μg/mL. Among which eight amides, compounds 1 and 6 show 57.4% and 48.1% inhibitory activity to KARI. The herbicidal activities of these amides were further investigated on di-cotyledonous rape (Brassica campestris) and mono-cotyledonous bar-nyardgrass (Echinochloa crusgalli). Compounds 1 and 6 were more favorable than others and showed 52.0% and 72.6% inhibitory activity on rape root at 100 μg/mL concentration, respectively. These amides could be further optimized for finding more potent candidates.