Compounds with copper- or zinc-activated toxicity against microbial infection

A copper- or zinc-activated antimicrobial compound comprising:

• or a pharmaceutically-acceptable salt thereof, where:
• R1 and R5 are each independently selected from the group consisting of hydrogen, substituted and unsubstituted aryls, arylalkyls, branched or unbranched alkyls or alkenyls that may be substituted, oligoglycols, C5-C6 sugars, cycloalkyls, heterocycles, amines, amides, or combinations thereof;
• and
• R2 is selected from the group consisting of hydrogen, branched or unbranched alkyls or alkenyls that may be substituted, amino groups, substituted or unsubstituted amines, substituted or unsubstituted amides, ethers, thioethers, esters, carboxylic acids, esters, substituted and unsubstituted aryls, thiourea groups, and combinations thereof;
• and
• R3 and R4 are each independently selected from the group consisting of hydrogen, halogens, branched or unbranched alkyls or alkenyls, cycloalkyls, heterocycles, ethers, thioethers, esters, amines, amides, hydrazines, hydrazones, nitro groups, and combinations thereof.