DFT and Molecular Docking Investigations on a Pyrazole Derivative for Antimicrobial Applications
Published 2025-10-10
Keywords
- Pyrazole derivatives,
- Antimicrobial activity,
- Molecular docking,
- Quantum chemical analysis,
- Pharmacokinetics
Copyright (c) 2025

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Abstract
The global surge in multidrug-resistant infections calls for the development of new therapeutic agents. This study presents the preparation and characteristics of a 5-Amino-1-isonicotinoyl-3-(4-nitrophenyl)-2,3-dihydro-1H-pyrazole-4-carbonitrile (AINDPC). Electronic structure and reactivity were evaluated using quantum chemical methods, while molecular docking was used to assess its interaction with microbial target proteins, indicating strong antimicrobial potential. Pharmacokinetic profiling confirmed favorable drug-like characteristics and bioavailability. The compound also exhibited notable antimicrobial activity against various bacterial and fungal strains.
References
- O. Ebenezer, M. Shapi, J.A. Tuszynski, A Review of the Recent Development in the Synthesis and Biological Evaluations of Pyrazole Derivatives, in: Biomedicines, 2022.
- A.A. Bekhit, S.N. Nasralla, E.J. El-Agroudy, N. Hamouda, A.A. El-Fattah, S.A. Bekhit, K. Amagase, T.M. Ibrahim, Investigation of the anti-inflammatory and analgesic activities of promising pyrazole derivative, European Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences, 168 (2022) 106080.
- A.R.I. Morsy, S.H. Mahmoud, N.M. Abou Shama, W. Arafa, G.A. Yousef, A.A. Khalil, S.K. Ramadan, Antiviral activity of pyrazole derivatives bearing a hydroxyquinoline scaffold against SARS-CoV-2, HCoV-229E, MERS-CoV, and IBV propagation, RSC Advances, 14 (2024) 27935-27947.
- F.E. Bennani, L. Doudach, Y. Cherrah, Y. Ramli, K. Karrouchi, M.h. Ansar, M.E.A. Faouzi, Overview of recent developments of pyrazole derivatives as an anticancer agent in different cell line, Bioorganic Chemistry, 97 (2020) 103470.
- A. Çetin, Ä.s. Bildirici, A study on synthesis and antimicrobial activity of 4-acyl-pyrazoles, Journal of Saudi Chemical Society, 22 (2018) 279-296.
- B. Ramesh, C.M. Bhalgat, Novel dihydropyrimidines and its pyrazole derivatives: Synthesis and pharmacological screening, European Journal of Medicinal Chemistry, 46 (2011) 1882-1891.
- G. Ouyang, Z. Chen, X.-J. Cai, B.-A. Song, P.S. Bhadury, S. Yang, L.-H. Jin, W. Xue, D.-Y. Hu, S. Zeng, Synthesis and antiviral activity of novel pyrazole derivatives containing oxime esters group, Bioorganic & Medicinal Chemistry, 16 (2008) 9699-9707.
- V. Kumar, K. Kaur, D.N. Karelia, V. Beniwal, G.K. Gupta, A.K. Sharma, A.K. Gupta, Synthesis and biological evaluation of some 2-(3,5-dimethyl-1H-pyrazol-1-yl)-1-arylethanones: Antibacterial, DNA photocleavage, and anticancer activities, European Journal of Medicinal Chemistry, 81 (2014) 267-276.
- M.J. Frisch, G.W. Trucks, H.B. Schlegel, G.E. Scuseria, M.A. Robb, J.R. Cheeseman, G. Scalmani, V. Barone, G.A. Petersson, H. Nakatsuji, X. Li, M. Caricato, A.V. Marenich, J. Bloino, B.G. Janesko, R. Gomperts, B. Mennucci, H.P. Hratchian, J.V. Ortiz, A.F. Izmaylov, J.L. Sonnenberg, Williams, F. Ding, F. Lipparini, F. Egidi, J. Goings, B. Peng, A. Petrone, T. Henderson, D. Ranasinghe, V.G. Zakrzewski, J. Gao, N. Rega, G. Zheng, W. Liang, M. Hada, M. Ehara, K. Toyota, R. Fukuda, J. Hasegawa, M. Ishida, T. Nakajima, Y. Honda, O. Kitao, H. Nakai, T. Vreven, K. Throssell, J.A. Montgomery Jr., J.E. Peralta, F. Ogliaro, M.J. Bearpark, J.J. Heyd, E.N. Brothers, K.N. Kudin, V.N. Staroverov, T.A. Keith, R. Kobayashi, J. Normand, K. Raghavachari, A.P. Rendell, J.C. Burant, S.S. Iyengar, J. Tomasi, M. Cossi, J.M. Millam, M. Klene, C. Adamo, R. Cammi, J.W. Ochterski, R.L. Martin, K. Morokuma, O. Farkas, J.B. Foresman, D.J. Fox, Gaussian 16 Rev. C.01, in, Wallingford, CT, 2016.
- T. Lu, F. Chen, Multiwfn: A multifunctional wavefunction analyzer, Journal of Computational Chemistry, 33 (2012) 580-592.
- W. Humphrey, A. Dalke, K. Schulten, VMD: Visual molecular dynamics, Journal of Molecular Graphics, 14 (1996) 33-38.
- G.M. Morris, R. Huey, W. Lindstrom, M.F. Sanner, R.K. Belew, D.S. Goodsell, A.J. Olson, AutoDock4 and AutoDockTools4: Automated docking with selective receptor flexibility, Journal of Computational Chemistry, 30 (2009) 2785-2791.
- M. Premalatha, K. Anitha, B. Revathi, V. Balachandran, B. Narayana, A. Jayashree, N. Thirughanasambantham, Delving into 5-Amino-3-(4-chlorophenyl)-1-isonicotinoyl-2,3-dihydro-1H-pyrazole-4-carbonitrile ligand: Synthesis, spectroscopic (FT-IR, FT-Raman, NMR, UV- Vis), reactivity (ELF, LOL and Fukui), NCI, molecular docking and in silico ADMET studies by experimental and DFT methods, Journal of Molecular Structure, 1316 (2024) 138772.
- C. Sivakumar, B. Revathi, V. Balachandran, B. Narayana, V.V. Salian, N. Shanmugapriya, K. Vanasundari, Molecular structure, spectroscopic, quantum chemical, topological, molecular docking and antimicrobial activity of 3-(4-Chlorophenyl)-5-[4-propan-2-yl) phenyl-4, 5-dihydro-1H-pyrazol-1-yl] (pyridin-4-yl) methanone, Journal of Molecular Structure, 1224 (2021) 129286.
- C. Sivakumar, V. Balachandran, B. Narayana, V.V. Salian, B. Revathi, N. Shanmugapriya, K. Vanasundari, Molecular spectroscopic assembly of 3-(4-chlorophenyl)-5-[4-(propane-2-yl) phenyl] 4, 5-dihydro-1H pyrazole-1-carbothioamide, antimicrobial potential and molecular docking analysis, Journal of Molecular Structure, 1210 (2020) 128005.
- S. Aayisha, T.S. Renuga Devi, S. Janani, S. Muthu, M. Raja, S. Sevvanthi, DFT, molecular docking and experimental FT-IR, FT-Raman, NMR inquisitions on “4-chloro-N-(4,5-dihydro-1H-imidazol-2-yl)-6-methoxy-2-methylpyrimidin-5-amineâ€: Alpha-2-imidazoline receptor agonist antihypertensive agent, Journal of Molecular Structure, 1186 (2019) 468-481.
- C. Bhaskar, N. Elangovan, S. Sowrirajan, S. Chandrasekar, O.A.A. Ali, S.F. Mahmoud, R. Thomas, Synthesis, XRD, Hirshfeld surface analysis, DFT studies, cytotoxicity and anticancer activity of di(m-chlorobenzyl) (dichloro) (4, 7-diphenyl-1,10-phenanthroline) tin (IV) complex, Journal of Molecular Structure, 1267 (2022) 133542.
- A. Viji, V. Balachandran, S. Babiyana, B. Narayana, V.V. Saliyan, Molecular docking and quantum chemical calculations of 4-methoxy-{2-[3-(4-chlorophenyl)-5-(4-(propane-2-yl) PHENYL)-4, 5-dihydro-1H-pyrazol-1-yl]- 1, 3-thiazol-4-yl}phenol, Journal of Molecular Structure, 1203 (2020) 127452.
- P.C. Jilloju, P. Shyam, A. Sanjeev, R.R. Vedula, Four-component, one–pot synthesis of (E)-N-benzylidene-3-(benzylthio)-5-(3,5-dimethyl-1H-pyrazol-1-yl)-4H-1,2,4-triazol-4-amines and their DNA binding and molecular docking studies, Journal of Molecular Structure, 1225 (2021) 129140.
- R. Nagalakshmi, V. Balachandran, A. Viji, B. Narayana, F. Alharethy, R. Murugan, M.K.D. Jothinathan, D. Sivasubramani, Quantum chemical calculations and molecular docking studies of 5-amino-3-(2,5-dimethoxyphenyl)-1-isonicotinoyl-2,3-dihydro-1H-pyrazole-4-carbonitrile, (2024).
- R. Matta, J. Pochampally, B.N. Dhoddi, S. Bhookya, S. Bitla, A.G. Akkiraju, Synthesis, antimicrobial and antioxidant activity of triazole, pyrazole containing thiazole derivatives and molecular docking studies on COVID-19, BMC Chemistry, 17 (2023) 61.
- A.S. Hassan, Antimicrobial evaluation, in silico ADMET prediction, molecular docking, and molecular electrostatic potential of pyrazole-isatin and pyrazole-indole hybrid molecules, Journal of the Iranian Chemical Society, 19 (2022) 3577-3589.
- F. En-Nahli, H. Hajji, M. Ouabane, M. Aziz Ajana, C. Sekatte, T. Lakhlifi, M. Bouachrine, ADMET profiling and molecular docking of pyrazole and pyrazolines derivatives as antimicrobial agents, Arabian Journal of Chemistry, 16 (2023) 105262.
- M. Rahman, J.J. Browne, J. Van Crugten, M.F. Hasan, L. Liu, B.J. Barkla, In Silico, Molecular Docking and In Vitro Antimicrobial Activity of the Major Rapeseed Seed Storage Proteins, Front Pharmacol, 11 (2020) 1340.
- N.H. Metwally, G.R. Saad, E.A. Abd El-Wahab, Grafting of multiwalled carbon nanotubes with pyrazole derivatives: characterization, antimicrobial activity and molecular docking study, Int J Nanomedicine, 14 (2019) 6645-6659.
- A.S. Hassan, N.M. Morsy, H.M. Awad, A. Ragab, Synthesis, molecular docking, and in silico ADME prediction of some fused pyrazolo[1,5-a]pyrimidine and pyrazole derivatives as potential antimicrobial agents, Journal of the Iranian Chemical Society, 19 (2022) 521-545.
- A. Lagunin, A. Stepanchikova, D. Filimonov, V. Poroikov, PASS: prediction of activity spectra for biologically active substances, Bioinformatics, 16 (2000) 747-748.
- N.C. Desai, D.V. Vaja, K.A. Jadeja, S.B. Joshi, V.M. Khedkar, Synthesis, Biological Evaluation and Molecular Docking Study of Pyrazole, Pyrazoline Clubbed Pyridine as Potential Antimicrobial Agents, Anti-Infective Agents, 18 (2020) 306-314.
- Y. Kaddouri, B. Bouchal, F. Abrigach, M. El Kodadi, M. Bellaoui, R. Touzani, Synthesis, Molecular Docking, MEP and SAR Analysis, ADME-Tox Predictions, and Antimicrobial Evaluation of Novel Mono- and Tetra-Alkylated Pyrazole and Triazole Ligands, Journal of Chemistry, 2021 (2021) 6663245.
- R. Thomas, Y.S. Mary, K.S. Resmi, B. Narayana, S.B.K. Sarojini, S. Armaković, S.J. Armaković, G. Vijayakumar, C.V. Alsenoy, B.J. Mohan, Synthesis and spectroscopic study of two new pyrazole derivatives with detailed computational evaluation of their reactivity and pharmaceutical potential, Journal of Molecular Structure, 1181 (2019) 599-612.
- N.M. Abdelazeem, W.M. Aboulthana, A.S. Hassan, A.A. Almehizia, A.M. Naglah, H.M. Alkahtani, Synthesis, in silico ADMET prediction analysis, and pharmacological evaluation of sulfonamide derivatives tethered with pyrazole or pyridine as anti-diabetic and anti-Alzheimer's agents, Saudi Pharmaceutical Journal, 32 (2024) 102025.