Chemical Degradation of Poly(ethylene terephthalate) for Potential Antimicrobial Activity Evaluation and Molecular Docking Study

Oxadiazole derivatives have been extensively studied for their specific and potent pharmacological property. Oxadiazole ring is susceptible to undergo electrophilic and nucleophilic substitution which makes it an interesting candidate to synthesize new derivatives with potential biological activity. Keeping in view their significance, the present work highlights the synthesis of a series of new oxadiazole derivatives from recycled poly(ethylene terephthalate) PET by chemical route. The aminolyzed product of PET i.e. terephthalic dihydrazide is being used for preparation of oxadiazole derivatives. The characterization of the synthesized product was done via FTIR, UV–visible, ¹H-NMR and thermal analysis. The compounds showed potential antimicrobial activity against Candida albicans, Rhizopus, Bacillus cereus and Escherichia coli. Further, molecular docking of the compounds were studied for target proteins Sterol 14α-demethylase, TREX1, and Glucosamine-6-phosphate synthase. The binding energy between the target protein and ligand is calculated and interaction between the two is discussed. The antimicrobial activity carried out for the derivatives were in close correlation with in silico docking study performed.