Chalcones – Prosperous candidates for drug development

Chalcone is a generic term given to compounds bearing the1,3-diphenylprop-2-en-1-one framework. Chalcone-containing plants have long been used as medical treatments in Asia, Africa, and South America. Chalcone is a unique template that is associated with a diverse range of pharmacological activities, among which antitumor, chemopreventive, antiinflammatory, antibacterial, antiplasmodial and antioxidant properties are widely cited.
The presentation provides an overview of the mechanisms of anticancer and chemopreventive actions of chalcones including those results the author obtained while investigating such activities of chalcones and cyclic chalcone analogs with different ring sizes. These synthetic, physico-chemical and biochemical investigations indicated that selection of proper ring size and aromatic substitution could generate chalcone analogs with dual-acting, anticancer and chemopreventive, effect. Such compounds can serve as prototypes for subsequent molecular modifications in searching for effective antitumor agents.