Abstract. A Quantitative Structural Activity Relationship study was performed on a series of 2-alkyl sulphanyl benzimidazoles that have previously been tested for their antimycobacterial activity against Mycobacterium tuberculosis and some non-tuberculous mycobacterium. Several statistical expressions were developed using stepwise multiple linear regression analysis. The best models were further validated by leave-one-out method and most acceptable QSAR model for prediction of antimycobacterial activity of the investigated series of benzimidazole was developed. The results of this study suggests that spatial parameters like low bulkiness and presence of electron withdrawing group plays a significant role in explaining antimycobacterial activity of the synthesized compounds. Thus the study simplifies design of new active molecules.

KEYWORDS: QSAR; benzimidazole derivatives; multiple linear regressions.