Synthesis and pharmacological activity evaluation of curcumin derivatives

Curcumin 3,4-dihydropyrimidinones/thiones/imines have been synthesized using one-pot cyclocondensation of curcumin with substituted aromatic aldehydes and urea/thiourea/guanidine in the presence of chitosamine hydrochloride as a biodegradable and nontoxic catalyst under solvent-free microwave irradiation. The synthesized product was purified by crystallization from ethanol and the process does not involve any hazardous solvent. All the synthesized curcumin derivatives 4a-o were screened for antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activity. Biological activity data of the synthesized showed that most of the synthesized compounds exhibited greater antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activity than curcumin.