Synthesis, in vitro antimicrobial, anticancer evaluation and QSAR studies of N′-(substituted)-4-(butan-2-lideneamino)benzohydrazides

A series of N′-(substituted)-4-(butan-2-ylideneamino)benzohydrazides (1–21) was synthesized and characterized by physicochemical as well as spectral means. The synthesized compounds were screened for their in vitro antimicrobial and anticancer potentials. The synthesized compounds displayed higher antifungal potential as compared to antibacterial potential. Besides having good antifungal potential, the synthesized compounds were having appreciable anticancer potential and a number of compounds displayed higher anticancer potential than the standard drug, carboplatin. The results of QSAR studies demonstrated the importance of steric parameter, molar refractivity (MR), topological parameters, third order molecular connectivity index (3χ  ), Kier’s first order shape index (κ1κ1) in describing the antimicrobial activity of N′-(substituted)-4-(butan-2-ylideneamino)benzohydrazides.