Design and synthesis of aryl-substituted pyrrolidone derivatives as quorum sensing inhibitors

Quorum sensing, a common cell-to-cell communication system, is considered to have promising application in antibacterial therapy since they are expected to induce lower bacterial resistance than conventional antibiotics. However, most of present quorum sensing inhibitors have potent cell toxicity, which limits their application. In this study we evaluated the diverse quorum sensing inhibition activities of different biaromatic furanones and brominated pyrrolones. On this basis, we further designed and synthesized a new series of aryl-substituted pyrrolones 12a-12f. In the quorum sensing inhibition assay, compound 12a showed improved characteristics and low toxicity against human hepatocellular carcinoma cell. In particular, it can inhibit the pyocyanin production and protease activity of Pseudomonas aeruginosa by 80.6 and 78.5%, respectively. Besides, in this series, some compounds exerted moderate biofilm inhibition activity. To sum up, all the findings indicate that aryl-substituted pyrrolidone derivatives are worth further investigation as quorum sensing inhibitors.