Synthesis of 1-substitutes-5(6)-nitrobenzimidazoles as potential antiviral compounds

The synthesis of 1-substituted, acyclic nucleoside derivatives of 5(6)-nitrobenzimidazoles and their pharmacological evaluation as antiviral compounds is described. The compounds were synthesized using 5(6)-benzimidazole as starting material with the appropriate chloromethylated substituted alcohols to obtain analogues of the known antiviral compounds, Acyclovir and Ganciclovir. The antiviral activity of these compounds was evaluated using strains of Herpes Simplex 1 and Poliovirus 1 and were found to be inactive as antiviral compounds under the testing conditions employed.