One-pot catalyst free synthesis of novel kojic acid tagged 2-aryl/alkyl substituted-4H-chromenes and evaluation of their antimicrobial and anti-biofilm activities.

A number of 3-hydroxy-6-(hydroxymethyl)-2-(2-phenyl-4H-chromen-4-yl)-4H-pyran-4-ones (3) have been synthesized in a one pot catalyst free reaction of 2-hydroxy chalcone (1) with kojic acid (2) in toluene at reflux temperature and evaluated for antimicrobial and anti-biofilm activities. Compounds 3a, 3e, 3f, 3l showed potent antimicrobial activity against Staphylococcus aureus MLS-16 MTCC 2940, Bacillus subtilis MTCC 121 and Escherichia coli MTCC 739, whereas 3b and 3k exhibited excellent activity against Bacillus subtilis MTCC 121 and Escherichia coli MTCC 739, while 3g showed promising activity against Bacillus subtilis MTCC 121 and Escherichia coli MTCC 739. On the other hand, compounds 3a, 3b and 3l showed very good anti-biofilm activity and 3g showed moderate activity against Bacillus subtilis MTCC 121. Whereas, compounds 3a and 3f showed moderate activity against Escherichia coli MTCC 739, while compounds 3a, 3b, 3k and 3l displayed similar activity against Staphylococcus aureus MLS-16 MTCC 2940.