Design, Synthesis, Antimicrobial Evaluation, Antioxidant Studies, and Molecular Docking of Some New 1 H ‐Benzimidazole Derivatives

Abstract The goal of this study is to synthesize and test a series of novel benzimidazole derivatives ( 3 a – 3 q , 4 a , 4 b ) for antimicrobial and antioxidant activity. The compounds were tested for antimicrobial activity in vitro using the macro dilution broth method. The antioxidant activity of the synthesized compounds was evaluated using assay of Lipid peroxidation (LP) level by measuring the formation of 2‐thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS) and 7‐Ethoxyresorufin O‐deethylase (EROD) activity. Only the compound 3 m demonstrated significant antimicrobial activity against all of the microorganisms tested. The LP level of compound 3 m (5.20±0.28, 68 %) was comparable to that of standard BHT (5.68±0.22, 65 %). Compounds 3 i (11 %, 28 %) and 3 m (13 %, 32 %) are the most active compounds on microsomal EROD activity and LP levels which are better than standard caffeine (15 %) and BHT (35 %), respectively. Also compounds 3 g (20 %), and 4 b (28 %) have much better LP levels than BHT (35 %). Compound 3 m exhibited high docking energies scores comparing with reference drugs when docked with bacterial Penicillin‐Binding Protein 3 and 4, sterol 14 α‐demethylase of C. albicans and urate oxidase enzyme.