N-sulfonated derivatives of 2,3-xylidine as suitable antibacterial agents

The objective of the current research effort was to unravel the antibacterial potential of some newly synthesized sulfonamides. 2,3-Dimethylaniline (2,3-xylidine, 1) was reacted with different sulfonyl chlorides (2a-g) under dynamic control of pH (9-10) in aqueous alkaline medium to generate a series of N-sulfonated derivatives of 2,3-xylidine (3a-g). The plausible structures of the synthesized derivatives were corroborated by contemporary spectral techniques e.g. IR,¹H-NMR and EIMS. Moreover, N-sulfonated derivatives were screened against different gram negative and positive bacterial strains to evaluate their inhibitory potential. They depicted good to moderate inhibitory potential, especially, N-(2,3-dimethylphenyl)methanesulfonamide (3a), N-(2,3- dimethylphenyl)-4-methylbenzenesulfonamide (3b), N-(2,3-dimethylphenyl)-4- bromobenzenesulfonamide (3d) and N-(2,3-dimethylphenyl)naphthalene-2-yl-sulfonamide (3f) were amongst the potent inhibitors as compared to standard; Ciprofloxacin.