Benzimidazole based hybrids against complex diseases: a catalogue of the SAR profile.

Abstract

The fused heterocyclic ring system has been recognized as a privileged structure, which is used as a template in medicinal chemistry for drug discovery. Benzimidazole is one of the common scaffolds found in several natural products such as histidine, purines, and an integral part of vitamin B12. This hetero-aromatic bicyclic ring system acts as a pharmacophore in various drugs of therapeutic interest and has a broad spectrum of activities. Literature reports suggest that diversely substituted benzimidazoles possess distinct pharmacological profiles with multi-targeting potential, thereby, an indispensable anchor for the development of novel therapeutic agents against complex diseases such as cancer, malaria, inflammatory disorders, microbial diseases, hypertension, etc. Thus, lots of research efforts have been diverted towards exploring the therapeutic potential of benzimidazoles. Despite great efforts made by the research community, still, some multi-factorial diseases continue to progress due to their complex pathophysiology. Under these sets of circumstances, there is a need to explore this nucleus for hybrid designing with multi-targeting potential against complex diseases. These benzimidazole-based hybrids have been reported to treat multifactorial diseases, making it a scaffold of interest for various pharmaceutical companies and research groups. In this write-up, we shed light on the recent pharmacological profile, various designing strategies, and structure-activity relationships (SAR) of various benzimidazole-based hybrids.