Synthesis, Characterization, Free Radical Scavenging and Cytotoxic Activities of Phenylvilangin, a Substituted Dimer of Embelin

Plants contain a wide variety of secondary metabolites that are used either as drugs or lead compounds in the synthesis of interesting chemicals that show promise in drug discovery. Quinones and their derivatives are one such group of specialized compounds that exhibit amazing biological properties. In this study, a benzoquinone derivative phenylvilangin has been synthesized from the naturally occurring embelin and its structure was confirmed by Infrared Spectroscopy, Proton Nuclear Magnetic Resonance, Carbon-13 nuclear magnetic resonance, Distortionless enhancement by polarization transfer and mass spectral analysis. Phenylvilangin has been screened for free radical scavenging and cytotoxic by in vitro methods wherein it exhibited significant activities suggesting that it could be a compatible material for further investigation to develop as a potential drug candidate. On comparison of the above bifunctional activities of phenylvilangin with those of the parent quinone embelin and another derivative vilangin, it has been found that phenylvilangin possessed better potential than the other two compounds.