The mycothiol biosynthesis enzyme MshC catalyzes the ligation of cysteine with the pseudodisaccharide GlcN-Ins and has been identified as an essential enzyme in Mycobacterium tuberculosis. We now report on the development of NTF1836 as a micromolar inhibitor of MshC. Using commercial libraries, we conducted preliminary structure-activity relationship (SAR) studies on NTF1836. Based on this data, NTF1836 and five structurally related compounds showed similar activity towards clinical strains of M. tuberculosis. A gram scale synthesis was developed to provide ample material for biological studies. Using this material, we determined that inhibition of M. tuberculosis growth by NTF1836 was accompanied by a fall in mycothiol and an increase in GlcN-Ins consistent with the targeting of MshC. We also determined that NTF1836 kills non-replicating M. tuberculosis in the carbon starvation model of latency.
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