Design and Synthesis of Natural-like Phenols and Hydroxylated Biphenyls to be applied in Biomedical and Agricoltural Fields

Natural and synthetic biologically active dimeric molecules having flexible structures have attracted considerable attention as effective ligands for receptor molecules involved in the etiology of many diseases in virtue of the possibility to enhance binding affinity in a wide variety of proteins. Hydroxylated biphenyls are widely present in nature and aside their natural monomeric phenols, they represent an important source of bioactive compounds, often scarcely investigated. Structurally, they are C2-symmetry dimer of phenols where two aromatic rings are bonded with a C-C single bond. The presence of hydroxylated functionalities in biphenyl structure provides interesting features in the molecule in term of bioavailability, interactions with proteins, pharmacological and antioxidant activities and stereochemical control. Compared to phenols, often, hydroxylated biphenyls are less toxic than the corresponding phenolic monomer. Biological activity of naturally occurring biphenyls can be enhanced by light modifications of substituents to achieve natural-like bioactive compounds having hydroxylated biphenyl as building block (framework). Our interest in that class of compounds is high and during severeal years we have developped small collections of hydroxylated biphenyls and compared their biological activity with the corresponding phenolic monomers.