Synthesis, molecular structure, electronic, spectroscopic, NLO and antimicrobial study of N-benzyl-2-(5-aryl-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)aniline derivatives

•Novel 2,5-disubstituted oxadiazole derivatives were synthesised.•Density functional theory method was used to complement the experiment.•TD-DFT was performed to have insights into the UV-Vis spectra.•The compounds were screened for their in vitro antibacterial activity.•The synthesized compounds exhibited moderate antibacterial and antifungal potential.