Synthesis of 2-mercaptobenzimidazole derivatives as potential anti-microbial and cytotoxic agents.

A series of novel 2-(1H-benzimidazol-2-ylsulfanyl)-N-(4-oxo-2-phenyl-thiazolidin-3yl)-acetamide 5a-j have been synthesized from various aldehydes and 2-(5-phenyl-[1,3,4]-oxadiazol-2-ylmethylsulfanyl)-1H-benzimidazole 6a-j from various benzoic acids. These compounds were screened for their in-vitro anti-bacterial activity against Staphylococcus aureus and Enterococcus faecalis as Gram positive, Klebsiella pneumoniae and Escherichia coli as Gram negative bacterial strains and for in-vitro anti-fungal activity against Asperigillus fumigatus and Candida albicans. The in vitro cytotoxic properties were studied using brine shrimp bioassay. Results revealed that, compounds 5b, 5d, 5g, 5i, 6b, 6e, 6f, and 6i showed excellent activity against a panel of microorganisms. The cytotoxic activities of 5b, 5g, 5i, 6b, 6f, 6h, and 6i were found to be good. All the newly synthesized compounds were characterized by elemental analysis, IR, (1)H-NMR, (13)C-NMR and MS.