Synthesis and antifungal evaluation of chalcone derivatives combined with fluconazole against drug-resistant Candida albicans

Chalcone is a common scaffold in natural products with optimal properties and biological activities.In this study, we designed and prepared eight new coumarin-chalcone derivatives (5a-5h), and confirmed their structures by ¹H NMR and ¹³C NMR. Their in vitro antifungal activity combined with fluconazole (FLC) against drug-resistant Candida albicans was tested by microdilution method.The results indicated that most chalcone derivatives showed good antifungal activity against drug resistant Candida albicans with FLC, particularly with compound 5g displaying better antifungal activity (MIC₅₀ = 5.60 μg/mL) than FLC (MIC₅₀ = 200 μg/mL) when combined with FLC, so, these derivatives could be used as synergists of antifungal drugs.