ALIPHATIC ETHERS AND ESTERS OF 1-(2,4-DICHLOROPHENYL)-2-(1H-IMIDAZOLYL) ETHANOL - STUDY OF ANTIFUNGAL ACTIVITY AGAINST YEASTS AND HYDROPHOBIC CHARACTER

Aliphatic ethers 2 and esters 3, which are closely related to antifung al azoles, were synthesized and tested against various strains of Cand ida. We found that their activity was strongly related to the length o f the chains; the best activity was obtained with a C-6 chain for ethe rs and C-5 or C-6 chains for esters (including the carbonyl group), wh ereas shorter or longer alkyl chains decreased antifungal efficiency. The biological activity of such compounds could be related to their ab ility to bind with the lipophilic area near the active site of enzymat ic target. The lipophilic character increases with the length of chain , following a linear variation. Thus, even if the activity depends on the lipophilic influence, this particular property is not sufficient t o totally explain the antifungal efficiency.