Benzimidazole scaffolds are known to have a diverse range of biological
activities and found to be antidiabetic and antioxidant. In this study,
a variety of arylated benzimidazoles 1–31 were synthesized. Except for compounds 1, 6, 7, and 8, all are new derivatives. All
compounds were screened for α-amylase inhibitory, 2,2′-azinobis(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic
acid) (ABTS), and 2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical scavenging
activities. In vitro screening results revealed that
all molecules demonstrated significant α-amylase inhibition
with IC50 values of 1.86 ± 0.08 to 3.16 ± 0.31
μM as compared to standard acarbose (IC50 = 1.46
± 0.26 μM). However, compounds showed significant ABTS
and DPPH radical scavenging potentials with IC50 values
in the range of 1.37 ± 0.21 to 4.00 ± 0.10 μM for
ABTS and 1.36 ± 0.09 to 3.60 ± 0.20 μM for DPPH radical
scavenging activities when compared to ascorbic acid with IC50 values of 0.72 ± 0.21 and 0.73 ± 0.05 μM for ABTS
and DPPH radical scavenging potentials, respectively. Structure–activity
relationship (SAR) was established after critical analysis of varying
substitution effects on α-amylase inhibitory and radical scavenging
(ABTS and DPPH) potentials. However, molecular docking was also performed
to figure out the active participation of different groups of synthetic
molecules during binding with the active pocket of the α-amylase
enzyme.