This work reports studies at the molecular level of a series of modified sulfonylureas to determine the chemophoric sites responsible for their antifungal and herbicidal activities. For forage conservation, high… Click to show full abstract
This work reports studies at the molecular level of a series of modified sulfonylureas to determine the chemophoric sites responsible for their antifungal and herbicidal activities. For forage conservation, high antifungal potency and low phytotoxicity are required. A molecular modeling study based on multivariate image analysis applied to quantitative structure-activity relationship (MIA-QSAR) was performed to model these properties, as well as to guide the design of new agrochemical candidates. As a result, the MIA-QSAR models were reliable, robust, and predictive; for antifungal activity, the averages of the main validation parameters were r2 = 0.936, q2 = 0.741, and r2pred = 0.720, and for herbicidal activity, the model was very predictive (r2pred = 0.981 and r2m = 0.944). From the interpretation of the MIA-plots, 46 novel sulfonylureas with likely improved performance were proposed, from which 9 presented promising calculated selectivity indexes. Docking studies were performed to validate the QSAR predictions and to understand the interaction mode of the proposed ligands with the acetohydroxyacid synthase enzyme.
               
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