Various 1-(substituted)-1,4-dihydro-6-nitro-4-oxo-7-(sub-secondary amino)-quinoline-3-carboxylic acids were synthesized from 2,4-dichlorobenzoic acid by six step synthesis. The compounds were evaluated for antimycobacterial in vitro and in vivo against Mycobacterium tuberculosis H37Rv (MTB), multi-drug resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MDR-TB) and Mycobacterium smegmatis (MC(2)) and also tested for the ability to inhibit the supercoiling activity of DNA gyrase from M. smegmatis. Among the 48 synthesized compounds, 7-(4-((benzo[d][1,3]dioxol-5-yl)methyl)piperazin-1-yl)-1-cyclopropyl-1,4-dihydro-6-nitro-4-oxoquinoline-3-carboxylic acid (8c) was found to be the most active compound in vitro with MIC of 0.08 and 0.16 microM against MTB and MDR-TB, respectively. In the in vivo animal model 8c decreased the bacterial load in lung and spleen tissues with 2.78 and 4.15-log10 protections, respectively, at the dose of 50 mg/kg body weight.