A novel series of phenoxymethybenzoimidazole derivatives ( 9a-n ) were rationally designed, synthesized, and evaluated for their α-glycosidase inhibitory activity. All tested compounds displayed promising α-glycosidase inhibitory potential with IC 50 values in the range of 6.31 to 49.89 μM compared to standard drug acarbose (IC 50 = 750.0 ± 10.0 μM). Enzyme kinetic studies on 9c , 9g, and 9m as the most potent compounds revealed that these compounds were uncompetitive inhibitors into α-glycosidase. Docking studies confirmed the important role of benzoimidazole and triazole rings of the synthesized compounds to fit properly into the α-glycosidase active site. This study showed that this scaffold can be considered as a highly potent α-glycosidase inhibitor. Supplementary Information The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s11030-021-10310-7.