US Patent 7385086 Antimicrobial compounds

This invention provides compounds and methods for treating, with said compound, a mycobacterial infection by administering to an animal a pharmaceutical composition containing a compound having the formula R—SOn-Z-CO—Y, where R is an alkyl groups having 6-20 carbon atoms, unsaturated hydrocarbon groups having 6-20 carbon atoms, or alkyl groups having 6-20 carbon atoms interrupted by at least one aromatic ring; Z is —CH2—, —CH2CH2—, —NH—NH—, —O—, ——NH—, —O—NH—, —CH2—NH—, —CH2—O—, —NH—O—, —NH—CH2—, —O—CH2—, and —CH═CH—; Y is —NH2, —O—CH2—C6H5, —CO—CO—O—CH3, and —O—CH3; and n is 1 or 2. It has been discovered that these compounds treat microbially-based infections caused by corynebacteria, nocardiae, rhodococcus, and mycobacteria. These compounds may be used to treat mycobacterial cells, such as Mycobacteria tuberculosis, drug resistant M. tuberculosis, M. avium intracellulare, M. leprae, M. paratuberculosis, and pathogenic Mycobacteria sp.