Cu-Metal Catalyst Based Click Chemistry: Synthesis, Characterization, Molecular Docking, and Antibacterial Evaluation of Triazole Derivatives

Objective: Triazole, also known as pyrrdiazole, is a five-membered nitrogen-containing heterocyclic compound composed of two carbon atoms and three nitrogen atoms. Triazole analogs have garnered significant attention due to their extensive applications in medicinal chemistry and their diverse range of biological activities. Methods: With this consideration, we synthesized a diverse library of novel triazolopyridine-based 1,2,3-triazole derivatives (Xa–Xh) by employing Cu alkyne-azide cycloaddition methodology and confirmed the structures by various spectroscopic techniques including mass spectrometry, FT-IR, ¹H, and ¹³C NMR spectroscopy. Further, the synthesized compounds were evaluated for their in silico and in vitro antibacterial potential against various Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacterial strains. Results and Discussion: In the results it is found that compound (Xa) exhibited superior antibacterial activity against S. aureus while compound (Xd) demonstrated comparable activity against E. coli when compared to standard drugs. Molecular docking study also indicated that compounds (Xa) and (Xd) possess the capability to bind to the active sites of S. aureus, E. coli, and P. aeruginosa. Conclusions: All this findings suggested (Xa) and (Xd) as promising alternatives for combating bacterial infections.