Chalcones: Synthesis, structure diversity and pharmacological aspects

Hery Suwito, Jumina, Mustofa,

Abstract

The diverse pharmacological activities of chalcones, such as antioxidant, antimicrobial, anticancer, and antihepatotoxic, attract many researchers to isolate and elucidate them from nature and to develop efficient synthetic method. In the development, chalcones do not only comprise derivatives of trans-1,3-diaryl-2-propen-1- ones, but also their analog. Chalcones isolated from nature show exotic structure, which is sometime unrecognizable directly. The structure diversity of chalcone whether from nature or synthetic origin and various synthetic method of chalcone are discussed. Furthermore the bi-electrophile character of chalcone makes them more attractive to be used as synthon in the synthesis of heterocyclic compounds, such as pyrazoline, pyrimidinone, and benzazepine, through cyclo-condensation reaction with a bi-nucleophilic species.