Microwave-assisted synthesis, molecular docking, and biological evaluation of 2-arylidene-2H-furo[2,3-f]chromen-3(7H)-ones as antioxidant and antimicrobial agents

An efficient microwave-assisted method of synthesis of some novel 2-arylidene-2 H -furo[2,3- f ]chromen-3(7 H )-ones 6a–j in excellent yields was described and structural assignment of the products was confirmed on the basis of IR, 1 H NMR, 13 C NMR, MS, and analytical data. The synthesized compounds were screened for antioxidant activity using 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl and hydrogen peroxide radicals. The compounds 5d , 5h , 6a , 6e , and 6j exhibited better radical scavenging ability. Antimicrobial activity results demonstrated that compounds 5b , 5e , 6b , 6c , and 6e showed promising antimicrobial potency. The in silico molecular docking studies were also carried out for the inhibition of cyclooxygenase-II enzyme. These molecular docking results were well complemented to the antioxidant activity studies.