Synthesis of substituted 2H-chromenes by a three-component reaction as potential antioxidants.

A series of alkoxy-substituted 2H-chromenes were synthesized by a one-pot three-component reaction using salicylaldehydes, acetyl acetone and alcohol as reactant and medium with tetra-n-butylammonium fluoride (TBAF) as catalyst. Simple reaction conditions, short reaction time and overall good yield of products make this synthetic strategy an efficient one to synthesize 2H-chromene molecules. All the synthesized compounds were evaluated for antioxidant activities. Among all the new compounds, 5j and 5k showed good inhibition [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text]) at 100 [Formula: see text] concentrations.