Biological evaluation of 4-(1H-triazol-1-yl)benzoic acid hybrids as antioxidant agents: In vitro screening and DFT study

Abstract

Fourteen triazole benzoic acid hybrids were previously characterized. This work aimed to screen their in vitro antioxidant activity using different assays, i.e., DPPH (1,1-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl), reducing the power capability, FRAP (ferric reducing antioxidants power) and ABTS (2,2′-azino-bis(3-ethylben zothiazoline-6-sulfonate) radical scavenging. The 14 compounds showed antioxidant properties in relation to standard BHA (butylated hydroxylanisole) and Trolox (6-hydroxy-2,5,7,8-tetramethylchroman-2-carboxylic acid). Higher antioxidant activity was observed by the parent (1) at a concentration of 100 µg/mL (89.95 ± 0.34 and 88.59 ± 0.13%) when tested by DPPH and ABTS methods in relation to BHA at 100 µg/mL (95.02 ± 0.74 and 96.18 ± 0.33%). The parent (2) demonstrated remarkable scavenging activity when tested by ABTS (62.00 ± 0.24%), however, 3 was less active (29.98 ± 0.13%). Compounds 5, 6, 9, and 11 exhibited good scavenging activity compared to 1. DFT studies were performed using the B3LYP/6-311++g (2d,2p) level of theory to evaluate different antioxidant descriptors for the targets. Three antioxidant mechanisms, i.e., hydrogen atom transfer (HAT), sequential electron transfer proton transfer (SETPT) and sequential proton loss electron transfer (SPLET) were suggested to describe the antioxidant properties of 1–14. Out of the 14 triazole benzoic acid hybrids, 5, 9, 6, and 11 showed some good theoretical results, which were in agreement with some experimental outcomes. Based on the computed (PA and ETE) and (BDE and IP) values in (SPLET) and (HAT and SETPT) mechanisms, respectively, compound 9 emerged has having good antioxidant activity.