Benzimidazole-2-carbamic Acid as a Privileged Scaffold for Antifungal, Anthelmintic and Antitumor Activity a Review

Benzimidazole, a simple heterocycle continues to hold promise to medicinal chemists. A vast number of compounds contain this scaffold and many of these have become blockbusters such as omeprazole, astemizole, candesartan to name a few. Benzimidazoles are unique in that they have been reported to show activity against fungal, mammalian and helminthes cells via binding to microtubules. They are the only class of broad spectrum anthelmintic drugs available in the market till date. The introduction of thiabendazole in 1961 opened up research on 2-substituted benzimidazole and among these benzimidazole-2-carbamic acids and their esters have shown promise. Substituted benzimidazole-2-carbamic acids and their alkyl esters have been investigated first as antifungal agents and later their effectiveness was established against nematode pathogens. Further work led to establishing anticancer properties in mammalian cells. The major problem that still needs to be resolved includes the poor aqueous solubility and the drug resistance exhibited by commercially available compounds. This review, therefore, focuses on the benzimidazole-2-carbamic acid class of compounds and their use as antifungal, anthelmintic and anticancer compounds and reports the investigations and the research findings done till date so as to gain further insights and provide new leads for developing novel compounds from this class of compounds.