Three series of 6-aryl-2-methylnicotinohydrazides 4a-i, N′-arylidene-6-(4-bromophenyl)-2-methylnicotino hydrazides 7a-f, and N′-(un/substituted 2-oxoindolin-3-ylidene)-6-(4-fluorophenyl)-2-methylnicotinohydrazides 8a-c were synthesized and evaluated for their potential in vitro antimycobacterial activity against M. tuberculosis. The results showed that isatin hydrazides 8a-c are remarkably more active than the parent hydrazide 4c. Hydrazides 8b and 8c exhibited the highest activity among all the tested compounds (MIC = 12.5 and 6.25 µg/mL, respectively). Compounds 8b and 8c were also devoid of apparent cytotoxicity to HT-29, PC-3, A549, HepG2 and MCF-7 cancer cell lines. Besides, 8b and 8c showed good drug-likeness scores of 0.62 and 0.41, respectively. Those two isatin hydrazides could offer an excellent framework for future development to obtain more potent antitubercular agents. The SAR study suggested that lipophilicity of the synthesized derivatives is a crucial element that accounts for their antimycobacterial activity. Finally, a theoretical kinetic study was established to predict the ADME of the active derivatives.

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The reaction of 3‐methylthiazolo[3,2‐a]benzimidazole‐2‐carboxylic acid ethyl ester (1) with hydrazine hydrate gives the hydrazide 2 which reacts with CS2/KOH to afford the potassium salt 3. Treatment of 3 with l‐aryl‐2‐bromoethanones 4a,b afforded the 1,3‐thiazoline derivatives 6a,b, respectively, while the reaction of 3 with hydrazine hydrate afforded 1,2,4‐triazole‐3‐thione derivative 9. The reaction of 9 with l‐aryl‐2‐bromoethanones 4a,b and with hydrazonyl chlorides 11a,b gave the 1,2,4‐triazolo[3,4‐b]‐1,3,4‐thiadiazine derivatives 10a,b and 12a,b, respectively. Treatment of hydrazide 2 with phenyl isothiocyanate in refluxing benzene gave the thiosemicarbazide derivative 16. The latter reaction gave 1,3,4‐oxadiazole derivative 17 when benzene was replaced by DMF. Cyclization of the thiosemicarbazide derivative 16 with NaOH resulted in the formation of the 1,2,4‐triazole‐3‐thione derivative 18.