Design, Synthesis and Antifungal Activities of Novel Strobilurin Derivatives Containing Pyrimidine Moieties

Strobilurins are one of the most important classes of agricultural fungicides. To discover new strobilurin derivatives with high activity against resistant pathogens, a series of novel beta-methoxyacrylate analogues were designed and synthesized by integrating substituted pyrimidine with a strobilurin pharmacophore. The compounds were confirmed and characterized by infrared, H-1 nuclear magnetic resonance, elemental analysis and mass spectroscopy. The bioassays indicated that most of the compounds (1a-1h) exhibited potent antifungal activities against Colletotrichum orbiculare, Botrytis cinerea Pers and Phytophthora capsici Leonian at the concentration of 50 mu g/mL. Exhilaratingly, compound 1d (R=3-trifluoromethylphenyl) showed better antifungal activity against all the tested fungi than the commercial strobilurin fungicide azoxystrobin.