Benzylamine-Based Organoselenium Compounds as Glutathione Peroxidase Mimics: Antioxidant and Antibacterial Agents.

Benzylamine-based organoselenium compounds were designed and synthesized to explore their antioxidant and antibacterial properties. The synthetic strategy involves nucleophilic substitution of benzyl bromides with in situ generated sodium selenolate, obtained from sodium borohydride reduction of the corresponding diselenides, affording the desired products. The multifunctional antioxidant properties, including radical-trapping and glutathione peroxidase-like antioxidant activities were evaluated using 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl and thiophenol assay, respectively. These antioxidants exhibited good cell viability at 2 µM and displayed in vitro antibacterial activity against gram-negative Escherichia coli and gram-positive Staphylococcus aureus. These were further supported by in silico study.