Molecular connectivity and antifungal activity. A quantitative structure-activity relationship study of substituted phenols against skin pathogens

The plot of minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) vs. ²χ(v) of 12 phenolic compounds delineates the congeners into 3 distinct classes: the most potent ortho compounds describe a parabola, para substituted compounds of intermediate potency lie in a line, while the least potent meta derivatives yield a scatter diagram. The same pattern is found for 2 skin pathogens, Trichophyton rubrum and Epidermophyton floccosum. From non-linear regression analysis ²χ(v) is found to be excellently correlated with observed MIC values of the most potent ortho compounds against both the test organisms. For both the organisms logP is found to be inferior to ²χ(v) in the correlation of MIC values. On the basis of regression equations the MIC values of certain ortho substituted phenols are calculated a priori, some of which are corroborated by findings reported in the literature.