Environmentally friendly one-pot two-step sequential synthesis of biological active curcumin analogues

In this study an efficient method to facilitate the sustainable synthesis of O-methyl dehydrozingerone dimer, and its monomer was developed. This one-pot two-step process involves O-methylation of phenolic compounds, using dimethyl carbonate as an alkylating green agent, followed by a Claisen Schmidt condensation in the presence of acetone under microwave irradiation without changing the nature of the base used for the entire synthetic process. The starting material vanillin dimer [6,6′-dihydroxy-5,5′-dimethoxy-[1,1′-biphenyl]-3,3′-dicarbaldehyde], was prepared by an innovative high-speed oxidative coupling reaction.