Synthesis, Bioactivity Assessment, and Molecular Docking of Non-sulfonamide Benzimidazole-Derived N-Acylhydrazone Scaffolds as Carbonic Anhydrase-II Inhibitors

[Image: see text] This research reports the synthesis of new benzimidazole-derived N-acylhydrazones (NAH), their characterization using various spectroscopic methods, and in vitro evaluation as potent carbonic anhydrase-II inhibitors. Among the target compounds (9–29), few showed higher inhibition than the standard acetazolamide (IC(50): 18.6 ± 0.43 μM), for example, compound 9 (IC(50): 13.3 ± 1.25 μM), 10 (IC(50): 17.2 ± 1.24 μM), 12 (IC(50): 14.6 ± 0.62 μM), and 15 (IC(50): 14.5 ± 1.05 μM). Molecular docking was performed on the most active compounds, which revealed their binding interactions with the active site of the enzyme, thus supporting the experimental findings.