Design, synthesis, bioactivity and action mechanism of N-substituted N′-phenylpicolinohydrazides against phytopathogenic fungi

N ′-phenylpicolinohydrazide has been proven to be a promising lead compound for research and development of novel fungicides for agriculture in our previous study. As our continuing research, in this study, a series of N -substituted derivatives of N ′-phenylpicolinohydrazide were synthesized and explored for the inhibition activity on nine phytopathogenic fungi and action mechanism. The results found that eleven of the compounds had excellent antifungal activity with more than 80% inhibition rates at 50 µ g/mL on part or most of the fungi, especially A. solani and P. piricola . Compounds 5i , 5j and 5k showed EC 50 values of < 8.0 µg/mL against A. solani superior to positive control carbendazim (EC 50  = 36.0 µg/mL) while 5p and 5q exhibited the highest activity with EC 50 values of 2.72 and 2.80 µg/mL against P. piricola superior to positive control boscalid (EC 50  > 50.0 µg/mL). Furthermore, 5k also showed significant protective effect against A. solani infection on tomatoes in a concentration-dependent manner. Action mechanism research showed that 5k was able to increase the intracellular ROS level, change both MMP and permeability of cell membrane and damage mycelial morphology. Molecular docking studies showed that 5k could bind into ubiquinone-binding region of succinate dehydrogenase by hydrogen bonds, π-cation, π–π stacked, π-alkyl, and alkyl interactions. Additionally, the antibacterial activity was also investigated. Thus, N -substituted derivatives of N ′-phenylpicolinohydrazide were emerged as novel and highly promising antifungal molecular skeletons to develop new fungicides for crop protection. Graphic abstract