The control of postprandial hyperglycemia is an important target in the treatment of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). As a result, targeting α-glucosidase as the most important enzyme in the breakdown of carbohydrates to glucose that leads to an increase in postprandial hyperglycemia is one of the treatment processes of T2DM. In the present work, a new class of benzimidazole-Schiff base hybrids 8a–p has been developed based on the potent reported α-glucosidase inhibitors. These compounds were synthesized by sample recantations, characterized by 1H-NMR, 13C-NMR, FT-IR, and CHNS elemental analysis, and evaluated against α-glucosidase. All new compounds, with the exception of inactive compound 8g, showed excellent inhibitory activities (60.1 ± 3.6–287.1 ± 7.4 µM) in comparison to acarbose as the positive control (750.0 ± 10.5). Kinetic study of the most potent compound 8p showed a competitive type of inhibition (Ki value = 60 µM). In silico induced fit docking and molecular dynamics studies were performed to further investigate the interaction, orientation, and conformation of the title new compounds over the active site of α-glucosidase. In silico druglikeness analysis and ADMET prediction of the most potent compounds demonstrated that these compounds were druglikeness and had satisfactory ADMET profile.

A novel indole-containing 2,6-pyridinedicarbohydrazide P3 was easily synthesized and well-characterized employing NMR, ESI+-MS, FT-IR, and elemental analyses. The synthesized compound was examined as an efficient turn-off fluorescent and colorimetric cation receptor. The P3 receptor exhibits a remarkable rapid color change from colorless to brown in the presence of the Cu2+ cation. P3 displayed selective fluorescence quenching and a UV-vis redshift only in the presence of Cu2+ ion. Job’s plot, NMR titration, and ESI+-MS data were used to determine the complex's 1:2 stoichiometry between P3 and Cu2+. Fluorescence titration was used to calculate the association constant (Ka) as (2.9–3.5) ×1011 M− 2 and LOD as \(\tilde\) 4.2 ×10−9 M. P3-based test strips were developed, which might be used as a simple and effective Cu2+ test kit. This design, which incorporates a functional group on the upper rim of the 2,6-pyridinedicarbohydrazide platform, is expected to provide another avenue for the development of chemosensors.