Synthesis and Evaluation of Chalcone Derivatives as Prospective Anti-Inflammatory Compounds

In order to discover novel anti-inflammatory agents, a series of compounds obtained by appending chalcone moieties on dehydroepiandrosterone were designed and synthesized. All compounds were screened for their anti-inflammatory activity by using an ear edema model. Most of the synthesized compounds showed potent anti-inflammatory activity at 100 mg/kg with inhibition rates ranging from 27.94% to 56.83%. It is noteworthy that compound 4e exhibited the most pronounced anti-inflammatory activity of all the compounds with an activity of 56.83%, which was higher than that of celecoxib (47.14%).