Synthesis of certain cinnamic acid derivatives through heck coupling reaction and evaluation of their antioxidant activities

Lincy Joseph, Mathew George, P

Abstract

The Heck reaction is one of the basic types of palladium catalyzed carbon-carbon bond forming reaction discovered by Mizoroki et al. and Heck et al in 1972. The reaction entails bond formation between sp2 carbon of an olefin and an aromatic carbon of an organo halide, proceeding with formal loss of HX under basic conditions. As part of our search for the development of viable synthetic protocols for the Heck coupling reaction, ten cinnamic acid derivatives were synthesized using Heck coupling reaction and they were characterized by NMR and LC MS spectra. The synthesized compounds were tested for antioxidant activity by DPPH assay and one compound exhibited moderate antioxidant activity. Thus it can be concluded that Heck coupling is a reliable synthetic tool for the development of newer compounds with therapeutic potential