Synthesis and biological evaluation of some novel-3-(5-substituted benzimidazol-2-yl)-5-arylisoxazolines

The synthesis of a new series of 3-(5-substituted benzimidazol-2-yl)-5-arylisoxazolines (6a–h) was achieved in excellent yields by the condensation of 1-(1H-benzimidazol-2-yl)-3-(substituted phenyl)prop-2-en-1-ones (5a–h) with hydroxylamine at room temperature. These 1-(1H-benzimidazol-2-yl)-3-(substituted phenyl)prop-2-en-1-ones (5a–h) were obtained by the condensation of 2-acetyl benzimidazoles (4a–d) with different aromatic aldehydes, which in turn were obtained by the oxidation of 2-(α-hydroxy)ethyl benzimidazoles (3a–d) prepared by the reaction of o-phenylenediamines (1a–d) with α-hydroxy propionic acid 2. The synthesized compounds were characterized by their IR, 1H NMR and MS analyses. These compounds were screened for their antibacterial and antifungal activity by standard methods and found some of them active.