A wide variety of drug-resistant microorganisms are continuously emerging, restricting the therapeutic options for common bacterial infections. Antimicrobial agents that were originally potent are now no longer helpful, due to their weak or null activity toward these antibiotic-resistant bacteria. In addition, none of the recently approved antibiotics affect innovative targets, resulting in a need for novel drugs with innovative antibacterial mechanisms of action. The essential cell division protein filamentous temperature-sensitive Z (FtsZ) has emerged as a possible target, thanks to its ubiquitous expression and its homology to eukaryotic β-tubulin. In the latest years, several compounds were shown to interact with this prokaryotic protein and selectively inhibit bacterial cell division. Recently, our research group developed interesting derivatives displaying good antibacterial activities against methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, as well as vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus faecalis and Mycobacterium tuberculosis. The aim of the present study was to summarize the structure-activity relationships of differently substituted heterocycles, linked by a methylenoxy bridge to the 2,6-difluorobenzamide, and to validate FtsZ as the real target of this class of antimicrobials.

中文翻译：

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细菌细胞分裂蛋白FtsZ的2，6-二氟苯甲酰胺抑制剂：设计，合成和结构-活性关系。

各种耐药微生物不断涌现，限制了常见细菌感染的治疗选择。原本有效的抗菌剂由于对这些抗药性细菌的活性弱或无效而不再有用。此外，最近批准的抗生素均未影响创新目标，因此需要具有创新抗菌作用机制的新型药物。由于其普遍存在的表达及其与真核β-微管蛋白的同源性，必需的细胞分裂蛋白丝状温度敏感Z（FtsZ）已成为可能的靶标。在最近几年中，几种化合物显示出与该原核蛋白相互作用并选择性抑制细菌细胞分裂。最近，我们的研究小组开发了有趣的衍生物，它们对耐甲氧西林的金黄色葡萄球菌，耐万古霉素的粪肠球菌和结核分枝杆菌具有良好的抗菌活性。本研究的目的是总结不同取代的杂环的结构-活性关系，这些杂环通过亚甲基氧桥连接到2,6-二氟苯甲酰胺，并验证FtsZ作为此类抗菌剂的真正目标。