We synthesized a set of 13 new and earlier described styrylpyridinium compounds (N‐alkyl styrylpyridinium salts with bromide or tosylate anions) in order to evaluate antifungal activity against C. albicans cells, to assay the possible synergism with fluconazole, and to estimate cytotoxicity to mammalian cells. All compounds were synthesized according to a well‐known two‐step procedure involving alkylation of γ‐picoline with appropriate alkyl bromide and further condensation with substituted benzaldehyde. Compounds with long N‐alkyl chains (C₁₈H₃₇–C₂₀H₄₁) had no antifungal activity against the cells of all tested C. albicans strains. Other styrylpyridinium compounds were able to inhibit yeast growth at the concentrations of 0.06–16 μg/ml. At fungicidal concentrations, the compound with the CN‐ group was least toxic to mammalian cells, showed the most effective synergism with fluconazole, and only slightly inhibited the respiration of C. albicans. The compound with the 4′‐diethylamino group exhibited the strongest fungicidal properties and effectively blocked the respiration of C. albicans cells. However, toxicity to mammalian cells was also high. Summarizing, the results of our study indicate that styrylpyridinium compounds are promising candidates in the development of new antifungal drugs.

中文翻译：

---

苯乙烯基吡啶化合物对白色念珠菌的抗真菌活性

为了评估对白色念珠菌细胞的抗真菌活性，我们合成了一组 13 种新的和较早描述的苯乙烯基吡啶鎓化合物（N-烷基苯乙烯基吡啶鎓盐与溴化物或甲苯磺酸盐），以评估与氟康唑可能的协同作用，并评估对哺乳动物的细胞毒性。细胞。所有化合物都是根据众所周知的两步程序合成的，包括用适当的烷基溴对 γ-甲基吡啶进行烷基化，然后与取代的苯甲醛进一步缩合。具有长N-烷基链( C ₁₈ H ₃₇ –C ₂₀ H ₄₁ ) 的化合物对所有测试的细胞均无抗真菌活性白色念珠菌菌株。其他苯乙烯基吡啶化合物能够在 0.06–16 μg/ml 的浓度下抑制酵母生长。在杀真菌浓度下，带有 CN- 基团的化合物对哺乳动物细胞的毒性最小，与氟康唑的协同作用最有效，对白色念珠菌的呼吸作用仅有轻微抑制。具有 4'-二乙氨基的化合物表现出最强的杀菌特性，并有效地阻断了白色念珠菌细胞的呼吸作用。然而，对哺乳动物细胞的毒性也很高。总而言之，我们的研究结果表明，苯乙烯基吡啶化合物是开发新型抗真菌药物的有希望的候选物。