Synthesis, crystal structure, ABTS radical-scavenging activity, antimicrobial and docking studies of some novel quinoline derivatives

[Display omitted] •New series of 2-chloroquinolin-3-yl ester derivatives were synthesized.•Chemical structures of the compounds were characterized by 1H NMR, 13C NMR, LCMS spectral analysis and elemental analysis.•X-ray crystallographic study of 6a and 6e were carried out.•In vitro antimicrobial and ABTS radical-scavenging activity screening were carried out.•The docking studies were carried out. In this study, a series of nine novel 2-chloroquinolin-3-yl ester derivatives have been synthesized via a two-step protocol from 2-chloroquinoline-3-carbaldehyde. The structures of all these compounds were confirmed by spectral data. The single crystal X-ray structure of two derivatives, (2-chloroquinolin-3-yl)methyl acetate [6a] and (2-chloro-6-methylquinolin-3-yl)methyl acetate [6e] have also been determined. The synthesized compounds were further evaluated for their ABTS radical-scavenging activity and antimicrobial activities. Amongst all the tested compounds, 6a exhibited maximum scavenging activity with ABTS. Concerning antibacterial and antifungal activities, compound (2-chloro-6-methoxyquinolin-3-yl)methyl 2,4-dichlorobenzoate [6i] was found to be the most active in the series against B. subtilis, S. aureus, E. coli, K. pneumonia, C. albicans and A. niger species. The structure-antimicrobial activity relationship of these derivatives were studied using Autodock.