anti-SARS-CoV-2 activities of five-membered heterocycle-substituted benzimidazoles.

The manuscript deals with cost-effective synthesis, structural characterization and SARS-CoV-2 screening activity of 5-membered heterocycle-substituted benzimidazole derivatives, 1-((1H-pyrrol-2-yl)methyl)-2-(1H-pyrrol-2-yl)-1H-benzo[d]imidazole (), 2-(furan-2-yl)-1-(furan-2-ylmethyl)-1H-benzo[d]imidazole (), 2-(thiophen-2-yl)-1-(thiophen-2-ylmethyl)-1H-benzo[d]imidazole (). The benzimidazole compounds were synthesized through a green-synthetic approach by coupling of 5-membered heterocyclic-carboxaldehyde and o-phenylenediamine in water under an aerobic condition. The compounds were characterized by various spectroscopic methods and X-ray structural analysis.