Abstract:
The importance of antibacterial to human health and hygiene has led intense research in
biological activities of thiourea derivatives at large scale. Thiourea derivative compounds
are synthetic elements. Their molecular structures are similar as urea except the oxygen is
replaced by sulfur. Previous study showed that these compounds exhibit a wide spectrum
of biological activities such as anti-amoeba, antifungi, antibacterial and anticancer. Thus,
this study was conducted to explore the antibacterial properties of eight thiourea
derivative compounds against four common pathogenic bacteria. Each compound with
five different concentrations; 200 μg/ml, 100 μg/ml, 50 μg/ml, 25 μg/ml and 12.5 μg/ml
were tested on three gram-negative bacteria; Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Escheria coli,
Proteus sp. and one gram-positive bacteria; Staphylococcus aureus. All eights synthetic
thiourea derivative compounds showed antibacterial activity towards Staphylococcus
aureus at MIC value of 12.5 μg/ml while other gram-negative bacteria were not affected
by the compounds. The morphology of affected bacteria, when observed under Scanning
Electron Microscopy showed several abnormal appearances of the cell morphology
including raptured of cell wall of Staphylococcus aureus. This study suggests that
synthetic thiourea derivative compounds had different effect towards gram-positive and
gram-negative bacteria due to their different in the cell wall structure and outer membrane
and also the properties of the synthetic thiourea derivative compound itself.
