Design, Synthesis, In Vitro Antimicrobial, Antioxidant Evaluation, and Molecular Docking Study of Novel Benzimidazole and Benzoxazole Derivatives

A series of novel 2‐substituted benzimidazole and benzoxazole derivatives as a potential antimicrobial and antioxidant agent were synthesized via coupling of N‐methyl‐o‐phenylenediamine or 2‐amino‐phenol with aromatic aldehyde and acid in the presence of polyphosphoric acid as an efficient catalyst as well as solvent by conventional method in short reaction times with excellent yield. The newly synthesized benzimidazole and benzoxazole derivatives were evaluated for antimicrobial and antioxidant activity and exhibited excellent to good activities compared to the standard drugs. Furthermore, the theoretical predictions based on molecular docking against microbial DNA gyrase could provide an insight into the plausible mechanism of action and establish a link between the observed antimicrobial activity and the binding affinity shedding light on specific thermodynamic (bonded and nonbonded) interactions governing the activity. Furthermore, the synthesized compounds were analyzed for absorption, distribution, metabolism, and excretion properties and exhibited potential properties to build up as good oral drug candidates.