Facile Synthesis and Characterization of New 2,3-Disubstituted Benzimidazole Derivatives

Benzimidazoles are known to represent a class of medicinally important compounds which are extensively used as antibacterial agents. Hence, a series of five 2-substituted benzimidazole precursors (1a-e) were synthesized via [4 + 1] condensation and imino compound (1f) by simple condensation in the presence of Conc. HCl as catalyst. Synthetic modification of N-1 position was achieved in order to obtain new 5-chloro-2,4-dinitrophenyl bearing 1,2-disubstituted benzimidazole 2a-e and 2f, and 3-chlorobenzyl bearing 1,2-disubstituted benzimidazole 3a-e and 3f in good to excellent yields using a facile approach. The chemical structures of all synthesized compounds were confirmed using spectroscopic means such as UV-visible, IR, Mass spectra, 1H and 13C NMR as well as C, H, N elemental analytical data.