Antibacterial and Enzyme Inhibition Studies of N'-Substituted Benzylidene-2-(2, 4- Dimethylphenoxy) Acetatohydrazides

The molecules bearing azomethine group are known to possess biological activities. In the present work, the synthesis of N'Substitutedbenzylidene-2-(2, 4-dimethylphenoxy) acetatohydrazide (5a-d) has been elaborated using 2,4-Dimethylphenol (1) as precursor. The molecule, 1, was converted to ethyl 2-(2,4-dimethylphenoxy)acetate (2) on refluxing with ethyl 2-bromoacetate in ethanol in the presence of KOH. Ethyl ester, 2, was refluxed with hydrated hydrazine (80%) in ethanol to yield 2-(2,4dimethylphenoxy) acetohydrazide (3). The target molecules, 5a-d, were synthesized by stirring 3 with phenyl/aryl carboxaldehyde (4a-d) in methanol in the presence of glacial acetic acid. The synthesized molecules were characterized by spectral data and evaluated for antibacterial and anti-enzymatic activities.