Antibacterial and mutagenic activities of new isothiocyanate derivatives

Nine newly synthetized isothiocyanate derivatives were demonstrated to poss es antibacterial and genotoxic activities in vitro, 4-Hydroxybutyl isothioc yanate exhibited a broad antibacterial effect, with MIC values of 762 mu mo l/L for Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli. Ethyl 4-methylsulfoxido butanoate had the highest antibacterial activity in Gram-positive bacteria, the MIC value being 425 mu mol/L for S, aureus. The highest tested concent rations of ethyl 4-isothiocyanatobutanoate and 4-hydroxybutyl isothiocyanat e produced a bacteriocidal effect in Gram-positive bacteria. The compounds showed no mutagenic effects on Salmonella typhimurium tester strains TA 98 and TA 100, either in the absence or in the presence of a metabolically act ive microsomal S9 fraction from rat liver using standard Ames test.