New series of biologically active triazole and pyrazole compounds containing 2, 4-disubstituted thiazole analogues (12a-l) were synthesized from p-hydroxy benzaldehyde and phenyl hydrazine in excellent yields and purity. All the synthesized compounds were unambiguously identified based on their spectral data analyses (IR,1H-NMR,13C-NMR spectra, and HRMS). The final derivatives were evaluated for their in vitro anti-microbial activity after thorough purification. Among all the tested compounds, the compound12e,12fand12 kpossess the highest growth inhibitory activity at MIC values of4.8, 5.1and4.0μg/ml respectively. The antioxidant properties of these compounds demonstrated and revealed remarkable activity compared to the standard antioxidant by using the DPPH free radical-scavenging assay. Moreover, molecular docking studies to evaluate the probable interactions with the catalytic domain of the gram-positiveS. aureustopoisomerase IV enzyme may provide new insights for developing these new hybrids as potential antimicrobial agents. The binding affinities of compounds12a-lwere ranging from − 10.0 to − 11.0 kcal/mol with topoisomerase IV enzyme and with COVID-19 main protease binding affinities are ranging from − 8.2 to − 9.3 kcal/mol. These docking studies reveal that the compounds12a-lcould be the best inhibitors for the novel SARS Cov-2 virus and have more future in discovery of potent drug candidates.Supplementary InformationThe online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s13065-023-00965-8.