β-pinene is a monoterpene isolated from turpentine oil and numerous other plants’ essential oils, which has a broad spectrum of biological activities. In the current work, six novel
β-pinene quaternary ammonium (
β-PQA) salts were synthesized and evaluated in vitro
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β-pinene is a monoterpene isolated from turpentine oil and numerous other plants’ essential oils, which has a broad spectrum of biological activities. In the current work, six novel
β-pinene quaternary ammonium (
β-PQA) salts were synthesized and evaluated in vitro for their antifungal, antibacterial and anticancer activities. The in vitro assay results revealed that compounds
4a and
4b presented remarkable antimicrobial activity against the tested fungi and bacteria. In particular, compound
4a showed excellent activities against
F. oxysporum f.sp. niveum,
P. nicotianae var.nicotianae,
R. solani,
D. pinea and
Fusicoccumaesculi, with EC
50 values of 4.50, 10.92, 9.45, 10.82 and 6.34 μg/mL, respectively. Moreover, compound
4a showed the best antibacterial action against
E. coli,
P. aeruginosa,
S. aureus and
B. subtilis, with MIC at 2.5, 0.625, 1.25 and 1.25 μg/mL, respectively. The anticancer activity results demonstrated that compounds
4a,
4b,
4c and
4f exhibited remarkable activity against HCT-116 and MCF-7 cell lines, with IC
50 values ranged from 1.10 to 25.54 μM. Notably, the compound
4c displayed the strongest cytotoxicity against HCT-116 and MCF-7 cell lines, with the IC
50 values of 1.10 and 2.46 μM, respectively. Furthermore, preliminary antimicrobial mechanistic studies revealed that compound
4a might cause mycelium abnormalities of microbial, cell membrane permeability changes and inhibition of the activity of ATP. Altogether, these findings open interesting perspectives to the application of
β-PQA salts as a novel leading structure for the development of effective antimicrobial and anticancer agents.
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