Benzofuranyl Esters: Synthesis, Crystal Structure Determination, Antimicrobial and Antioxidant Activities

A series of five new 2‐(1‐benzofuran‐2‐yl)‐2‐oxoethyl 4-(un/substituted)benzoates 4(a–e), with the general formula of C(8)H(5)O(C=O)CH(2)O(C=O)C(6)H(4)X, X = H, Cl, CH(3), OCH(3) or NO(2), was synthesized in high purity and good yield under mild conditions. The synthesized products 4(a–e) were characterized by FTIR, (1)H-, (13)C- and (1)H-(13)C HMQC NMR spectroscopic analysis and their 3D structures were confirmed by single-crystal X-ray diffraction studies. These compounds were screened for their antimicrobial and antioxidant activities. The tested compounds showed antimicrobial ability in the order of 4b < 4a < 4c < 4d < 4e and the highest potency with minimum inhibition concentration (MIC) value of 125 µg/mL was observed for 4e. The results of antioxidant activities revealed the highest activity for compound 4e (32.62% ± 1.34%) in diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical scavenging, 4d (31.01% ± 4.35%) in ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) assay and 4a (27.11% ± 1.06%) in metal chelating (MC) activity.