Abstract The 2-(1, 2-dihydro-3-oxo-3H-pyrazol-2-yl) benzothiazole scaffold was selected as a central core structure for the discovery of novel antibacterial compounds. A systematic variation of the substituents on the oxo-pyrazole moiety, as well as on the benzo moiety, led to the creation of a small and focused library of benzothiazoles that was subjected to antibacterial screening. In a first round of screening, activity of the compounds against six ...