Synthesis, biological evaluation and docking study of N-(2-(3,4,5-trimethoxybenzyl)benzoxazole-5-yl) benzamide derivatives as selective COX-2 inhibitor and anti-inflammatory agents

[Display omitted] •Synthesis of new N-(2-(3,4,5-trimethoxybenzyl)benzoxazole-5-yl)benzamide derivatives.•In vitro biological evaluation of compounds by COX-2 enzymatic inhibition assay.•In vivo biological evaluation and their histopathological studies.•In silico study by molecular docking of ligands using crystal structure of COX-2.•Compounds 3b, 3d, 3l and 3m showed most promising activity. A series of N-(2-(3,4,5-trimethoxybenzyl)-benzoxazole-5-yl)benzamide derivatives (3a–3n) was synthesized and evaluated for its in vitro inhibitory activity against COX-1 and COX-2. The compounds with considerable in vitro activity (IC50