Synthesis, biological evaluation and molecular modeling study of pyrazole derivatives as selective COX-2 inhibitors and anti-inflammatory agents

•Pyrazole derivatives were synthesized.•In vivo anti-inflammatory activity was evaluated.•Carrageenan-induced rat paw edema model was used.•In silico (docking) studies were carried out.•Theoretical binding was calculated on schrodinger software. A novel series of pyrazole derivatives were synthesized and evaluated in vivo for their anti-inflammatory activity in carrageenan-induced rat paw edema model. Among all compounds, 5a, and 5b showed comparable anti-inflammatory activity to Nimesulide, the standard drug taken for the studies. In silico (docking) studies were carried out to investigate the theoretical binding mode of the compounds to target the cyclooxygenase (COX-2) using Autodock 4.2.