Exploring the anti-biofilm activity of cinnamic acid derivatives in Candida albicans

Some compounds, characterized by phenylethenyl moiety, such as methyl cinnamate and caffeic acid phenethyl ester, are able to inhibit C. albicans biofilm formation. On these bases, and as a consequence of our previous work, we synthesized a series of cinnamoyl ester and amide derivatives in order to evaluate them for the activity against C. albicans biofilm and planktonically grown cells. The most active compounds 7 and 8 showed ⩾50% biofilm inhibition concentrations (BMIC50) of 2 μg/mL and 4 μg/mL respectively, against C. albicans biofilm formation; otherwise, 7 showed an interesting activity also against mature biofilm, with BMIC50 of 8 μg/mL