The discovery of new therapeutic agents for inflammatory disorders has attracted
more attention in recent years. Chalcone term is given to the flavonoid compounds
bearing the 1,3-diphenyl-2-propen-1-one framework. Generally, chalcones are
precursors of flavonoids with two aromatic rings joined together through three
carbons, Į, ȕ-unsaturated carbonyl system. In plants, chalcones are converted to the
respective (2S)-flavanones by enzymatic reaction of chalcone isomerase. Based on
the close chemical and biogenetic relationship between flavanones and chalcones,
they are considered as natural products. For anti-inflammatory activity of chalcones,
activated macrophages play an important role and compounds with that inhibit nitro
oxide production by macrophages have been found potential for the prevention and
treatment of inflammatory disorders. Some functional groups such as dimethylamine,
methoxy and butoxy groups increase the electron density of the B-ringresulting in
significant loss of anti-inflammatory activity. Therefore, in this project three
compounds were synthesised for chalcones containing halogens (-Cl) at metapositions on aromatic rings in chalcones and tested for their anti-inflammatory
activity. The synthesized compounds were purified by column chromatography and
characterised by 1H-NMR, 13C-NMR, FTIR, Mass and UV spectra. Further evaluation
of theirin vitro anti-inflammatory activity were carried out using RAW 264.7 mouse
macrophages. The test dose of chalcones were determined was cytotoxicity (MTT)
assay on RAW264.7 mouse macrophages. The results showed that the halogen
substitution at meta-positions on aromatic rings improved the anti-inflammatory
activity for the compound (E)-1,3-bis(3-chlorophenyl) prop-2-en-1-one (III) shows
the best activity.
Keywords: Chalcones, m-chlorobenzaldehyde, m-chloroacetophenone, Ethyl alcohol,
Anti-inflammatory activity, RAW 264.7 cells

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