Catechol‐bearing imidazolium and benzimidazolium chlorides as promising antimicrobial agents

Catechol‐containing imidazolium (four) and benzimidazolium chlorides (eight) were synthesized to evaluate their antimicrobial properties. All the compounds were fully characterized using 1 H and 13 C nuclear magnetic resonance, liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry, infrared spectroscopic methods, and elemental analyses. Antimicrobial activities of the compounds were tested against the bacteria Escherichia coli , Pseudomonas aeruginosa , Acinetobacter baumannii , Klebsiella pneumoniae , Staphylococcus aureus , methicillin‐resistant S. aureus (MRSA), Enterococcus faecalis , and the fungal strains Candida albicans and Candida glabrata , and promising results were achieved. The two most important benzyl‐substituted benzimidazolium chlorides, 3l and 3k , showed comparable activity to vancomycin against MRSA.