Anti-inflammatory effect and inhibition of nitric oxide production by targeting COXs and iNOS enzymes with the 1,2-diphenylbenzimidazole pharmacophore.

Being the base of several non-communicable diseases, including cancer, inflammation is a complex process generated by tissue damage or change in the body homeostatic state. Currently, the therapeutic treatment for chronic inflammation related diseases is based on the use of selective cyclooxygenase II enzyme, COX-2, inhibitors or Coxibs, which have recently regained attention giving their preventive role in colon cancer. Thus, the discovery of new molecules that selectively inhibit COX-2 and other inflammatory mediators is a current challenge in the medicinal chemistry field.

Involvement of conformational isomerism in the complexity of the crystal network of 1-(4-nitrophenyl)-1H-1,3-benzimidazole derivatives driven by C-H...A (A = NO, N and π) and orthogonal N...NO and ONO...Csp interactions.

A detailed structural analysis of the benzimidazole nitroarenes 1-(4-nitrophenyl)-1H-1,3-benzimidazole, CHNO, (I), 1-(4-nitrophenyl)-2-phenyl-1H-1,3-benzimidazole, CHNO, (II), and 2-(3-methylphenyl)-1-(4-nitrophenyl)-1H-1,3-benzimidazole, CHNO, (III), has been performed. They are nonplanar structures whose crystal arrangement is governed by Csp-H..