Development of anti-fungal pesticides from protein kinase inhibitor-based anticancer agents.

Repurposing the novel p21-activated protein kinase inhibitor compound 15 identified its antifungal activity against five selected species of phytopathogenic fungi. Lead optimization based on its structure gave rise to a focused library of 20 derivatives, among which compound 3c demonstrated increased activity over compound 15 and even comparable to that of some commercialized fungicides in the market including carbendazim, tebuconazole, and pyraclostrobin. This study showed that p21-activated protein kinase inhibitor compound 15 was able to serve as a molecular platform to develop effective fungicides against fungal phytopathogens and indicate that screening existing protein kinase inhibitors might be an effective way to identify lead compounds for antifungal pesticides development.