A series of benzamide derivatives were assembled by using the privileged-fragment- merging (PFM) strategy and their SAR studies as glucokinase activators were described. Compounds 5 and 16b were identified having a suitable balance of potency and activation profile. They showed EC50 values of 28.3 and 44.8 nM, and activation folds of 2.4 and 2.2, respectively. However, both compounds displayed a minor reduction in plasma glucose ...