A facile synthesis of α,α′-(EE)-bis(benzylidene)-cycloalkanones and their antitubercular evaluations

An economical and facile synthesis of α,α′-(EE)-bis(benzylidene)-cycloalkanones was achieved by the reaction of cycloalkanones with different aromatic aldehydes using ethanolic KOH in good yields. Few of the selected compounds were reduced with NaBH4 to the respective α,α′-(EE)-bis(benzylidene)-cycloalkanols. All these compounds and our earlier synthesized cyclohexyl phenyl methanols were evaluated for their antitubercular, antifungal and antibacterial activities. Several compounds displayed moderate antitubercular activity with MIC = 12.5–1.56 μg/mL. However, none of the compounds displayed any significant antifungal activity.

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