title: Relation between lipophilicity of alkyl gallates and antifungal activity against yeasts and filamentous fungi.
abstract: The antifungal activity of a complete series of 15 n-alkyl gallates and six analogues acting against a representative panel of opportunistic pathogenic fungi was studied in order to analyze their role in: the importance of the fungi tested, the importance of the hydroxyls, the influence of the chain length and the hydrophobicity of the compounds. It was demonstrated that dermatophytes were the most susceptible species and that hydroxyls appear to be necessary but not sufficient for the activity. When the logP of each gallate was calculated and related to the different values of MIC against Microsporum gypseum it was observed that hexyl, heptyl, octyl and nonyl gallates exhibit a significant positive deviation from the curve corresponding to a polynomial equation obtained for the other gallates. This suggests that these compounds have a further mode of action besides their hydrophobicity, possibly the inhibition of some enzyme involved in ergosterol biosynthesis.
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Química, Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, Centro de Ciências Físicas e Matemáticas, Campus Trindade, CEP: 88040-900 Florianópolis, SC, Brazil.
authors.forename: P C
authors.initials: PC
authors.lastname: Leal
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Mascarello
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Derita
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Zuljan
authors.forename: R J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Nunes
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Zacchino
authors.forename: R A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Yunes
mesh_terms: D000935:Antifungal Agents / Q000138:chemical synthesis* / Q000494:pharmacology*; D003883:Arthrodermataceae / Q000378:metabolism; D002626:Chemistry, Pharmaceutical / Q000379:methods*; D015195:Drug Design; D004353:Drug Evaluation, Preclinical; D004875:Ergosterol / Q000737:chemistry; D005658:Fungi / Q000187:drug effects*; D005707:Gallic Acid / Q000031:analogs & derivatives* / Q000737:chemistry; D008826:Microbial Sensitivity Tests; D008864:Microsporum / Q000378:metabolism; D015394:Molecular Structure; D013329:Structure-Activity Relationship
chemical_list: D000935:Antifungal Agents; C460680:nonyl gallate; D005707:Gallic Acid; D004875:Ergosterol