Non-nucleophilic base promoted synthesis of azo-linked oxazolone-pyrazole hybrids: Antimicrobial, antitubercular, anticancer evaluations and in-silico modeling insights

• DBU catalyzed oxazolone-bearing pyrazole derivatives have been synthesized. • 7b and 7c showed excellent antibacterial and antifungal activity. • 7b was most effective against the M. tuberculosis H37Rv strain with 94 % inhibition. • 7b , 7c and 7e demonstrated significant binding affinities in docking analysis. • 7a and 7b showed remarkable anticancer activity in five-dose screening. Ten new non-nucleophilic base (DBU) catalyzed oxazolone-bearing pyrazole derivatives were created to treat infectious diseases caused by bacterial, mycobacterial strains, and cancerous cell lines. Compounds 7b and 7c showed excellent antibacterial and antifungal activity. Compound 7b was highly effective against M. tuberculosis H37Rv, with a MIC of 0.06 μg/mL and significant binding affinities to AcrB of E. coli (−12 Kcal/mol), TriABC of P. aeruginosa (−12.5 Kcal/mol), and MepR of S. aureus (−10.6 Kcal/mol). Based on the findings, compounds 7b , 7c , and 7e exhibit proficient binding affinity with two essential targets, namely Enoyl-[acyl-carrier-protein] reductase and Topoisomerase I, of M. tuberculosis . Compound 7b showed superior cytotoxic activity against all cancer types except leukemia with GI 50 values of 1.26–1.83 µM and LC 50 values of 5.36–7.88 µM. Compound 7a demonstrated remarkable anticancer activity against colon, melanoma, ovarian, renal, and breast cancer cell lines with GI 50 values of 1.60–2.55 µM.