Facile DES-mediated synthesis and antioxidant potency of benzimidazoquinazolinone motifs

One-pot multicomponent synthesis of benzimidazoquinazolinone scaffolds was achieved by reaction between 2-aminobenzimidazole, aldehyde, and 1,3-cyclohexa- dione in choline chloride:glycerol as deep eutectic solvent (DES). The developed methodology offers mild and faster reaction conditions with excellent product yield. The synthesized compounds were screened for their antioxidant potency using 1,1-diphenyl-2- picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical scavenging, ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP), 2,2 0 -azino-bis(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonicacid)(ABTS),andmetalchelatingassay. Mostofthecompoundswerefoundtoexhibitgoodtocomparableantioxidantactivitywith respect to standards. Use of this inexpensive and biodegradable solvent makes this methodology a greener approach compared with other methods reported in literature. Graphical Abstract Greener, one-pot multicomponent synthesis of benzimidazo- quinazolinone scaffolds using DES (ChCl:glycerol) as efficient, recyclable, and biodegradable solvent has been achieved. The synthesized compounds show good to comparable antioxidant activity compared with standards.