## 1 Introduction  
An alarming analysis revealed that in 2007, more than 1500 people in Europe died from an invasive infection caused by a strain of _Escherichia coli_ that was resistant to third-generation cephalosporions and originated in poultry [1]. Furthermore the mortality from carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae (CREs) is anticipated to be even higher should it spread in poultry on an equivalent scale, becoming a major threat to human health in the world. Currently, no reliable treatment is available for humans infected with CREs. As these antibiotic-resistant bacterial pathogens are already entering the food chain [2,3] and can be transmitted through oral consumption [4], a call has been made for zero-tolerance on CREs in retail food to stop the situation from getting out of control. Unfortunately, the regulations on antimicrobial usage are largely ineffective, because they function only at a national level, whereas antimicrobial consumption and sales are global. An international/global ban on the sale of food items containing CREs could make imported and locally produced food meet the same standards. The health risks and consequences of the spread of these enterobacterial potential illnesses and diseases are enormous, and every effort must be made to prevent their increase to endemic proportions, especially for vulnerable individuals in communities and their threat to human life. Therefore, greater scientific efforts are urgently needed to focus on finding effective generic antibacterial agents.  
An analysis carried out in the United Kingdom predicts that if antibiotics become ineffective, everyday operations, such as hip replacements, could be fatal for around one in six [5].  
Nitrostyrene derivatives have attracted considerable attention for the past several decades due to their diverse biological activities [6,7]. The resurgence of interest in the antibacterial activity of nitrovinyl containing compounds, including \(\beta\)-nitrostyrene derivatives, is attributed to their ready synthesis and significant antibacterial/antifungal activity with applications in veterinary and human medicine [8].  
The introduction of the styryl functionality at position 2 of 5-nitroimidazoles potently enhanced the antimicrobial/antigiardial activity having low cytotoxicity against _Giardia lamblia_[9]. Indeed, an extensive SARs study of 5-nitroimidazoles related to metronidazolezo has uncovered compounds with improved drug activities against several clinically important microbes and unexpectedly overcame different forms of resistance. The positive performance of some of these research products in experimental disease testing has been promising. They could lead to better health outcomes [10].  
The dibrominated nitrovinylfurans, 2-bromo-5-(2-bromo-2-nitrovinyl)furan [11], showed broad-spectrum antibacterial activity against Gram-positive (multi-resistant strains of _Staphylococcus aureus_) and Gram-negative bacteria with a minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of 4 \(\mu\)g/mL or less. Reactions of the dibromo-nitrovinylfuran with proteins and glutathione (GSH) indicated that the intermediate thiol adducts reacted further with GSH to give glutathione disulfide and the mono-bromo-nitrovinylfuran, as shown in Scheme 1.  
**Scheme 1.** [PERSON] addition of GSH to dibromo-nitrovinylfuran.  
Our previous research on the structure activity relationships (SARs) of nitrostyrene derivatives for antibacterial activity revealed that the presence of a fluorine atom at the _para_ position on the benzene ring showed the highest activity against Gram-negative bacteria [12,13]. The aim of the present research work is to study the effect of various halogen substitutions at different ring and side chain positions of \(\beta\)-nitrostyrene derivatives on antibacterial activity.