© 2012 Inforesights Publishing UK 94 Medicinal Chemistry & Drug Discovery 2012, 3(2), 194-102 S l Synthesis and antimicrobial activities of 1-Naphthylamine based acetophenone semicarbazones S. N. Pandeya *1 , Tanu Srivastava 1 , Mayank Gangwar 2,3 , Bipin Bihari 1 , Gopal Nath 2 1 Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Saroj Institute of Technology and Management Lucknow-226002 UP India. 2 Department of Microbiology, Institute of Medical Sciences, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi 221 005, UP India 3 Department of Pharmacology, Institute of Medical Sciences, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi- 221005 UP India *Corresponding author: snpande65@yahoo.co.in, Tel:+91-9415845669, Fax: 0542 2367568 Received: 22 July 2012, Revised: 27 August 2012, Accepted: 29 August 2012 Abstract A series of novel highly functionalized novel para-amino acetophenone semicarba- zones derivative have been synthesized from 1-naphthylamine, sodium cyanate, hydrazine hydrate in good-to-excellent yield. The synthesized compounds were characterized and screened for their in-vitro antibacterial and antifungal activities by disc diffusion and twofold serial dilution method. The prepared compounds we- re tested against the standard strains viz. Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aerugi- nosa, Staphylococcus aureus, E. faecalis and the yeasts Candida albicans, Candida tropicalis & Candida krusie. The result of antimicrobial assay revealed the presen- ce of excellent activity against gram positive i.e. S.aureus compared to gram negat- ive E.coli and P.aeruginosa. Antifungal test revealed moderate activity against diff- erent candida strains. Keywords: Semicarbazones, antimicrobials, Disc diffusion, MIC Introduction Resistance towards microbes creates a serious problem since last three decades. So the need of an hour is to search new novel antimicrobial (Cunha, 1998). Semicarbazides have been known to have significant biological activity against important pathogens. Semicarbaz- ones are among the most relevant nitrogen-oxygen donor ligands (Gingrass et al., 1961). A good deal of work has been reported on the preparation and structural investigation of semic- arbazones and their complexes. Semicarbazone and their derivatives are of much interest because of wide spectrum of antimicrobial activities (Dogan et al., 1999; Pandeya et al., 1993). In addition thio- and semicarbazones possess a wide range of bioactivities, and their chemistry and pharmacological applications have been extensively investigated. The more significant bioactivities of a variety of semicarbazones (antiprotozoa, and anticonvulsant) and thiosemicarbazones (antibacterial, antifungal, antitumoral, antiviral) and their metal comple-