Design, synthesis, anticancer and antioxidant activities of amide linked 1,4-disubstituted 1,2,3-triazoles

•A series of amide linked 1,4-disubstituted 1,2,3-triazoles was synthesized.•The synthesized triazoles were explored for anticancer and antioxidant activities.•Compound 7e & 7f possess good anticancer activity, also supported by docking studies.•Compound 7d showed promising antioxidant activity comparable to standard used.•ADME screening of the synthesized triazoles displayed drug like nature. To explore anticancer and antioxidant agents with improved potency, we synthesized a series of amide linked 1,4-disubstituted 1,2,3-triazoles through click chemistry approach. The structure of synthesized triazoles were characterized by- FTIR, 1H NMR, 13C NMR spectroscopy and HRMS. All the synthesized compounds were screened for their anticancer activity against four different cell lines- PC3 (prostate cancer), A549 (lung cancer), MIAPACA (liver cancer), Fr2 (Breast epithelial), reflecting compounds 7e and 7f to possess good activity. The antioxidant activity was evaluated by using stable free radical 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) assay and compound 7d showed promising activity having IC50 value 1.61 µg/ml. Molecular docking studies of compounds 7e and 7f was carried out in active site of human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 revealed high binding affinities and within toxicity limits. The experimental results were in good agreement with docking studies. In-silico ADME studies of synthesized compounds also have good dispositional profile and are patient compliant, may be potential future candidates for anticancer treatment. [Display omitted]