Antioxidant activity of phthalonitrile derivatives bearing different chalcone groups

This work presents the synthesis of four phthalonitrile compounds (3 a-d ) bearing different chalcone moiety which have biological activities. Phthalonitrile compounds are a considerable pioneer in the synthesis of novel photoactive phthalocyanine derivatives. Antioxidant activity of the new phthalonitrile compounds (3 a and 3 b ) and those of one’s synthesized previously (3 c and 3 d ) have been studied after the determination of their spectroscopic properties. Ferric reducing/antioxidant power (FRAP) and 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) methods have been used to determine the antioxidant activities of the compounds. According to the DPPH radical scavenging activity values, the antioxidant activity of 4-{3-[(2E)-3-(4-nitrophenyl)prop-2-enoyl]phenoxy}phthalonitrile 3 b is significantly higher than the counterparts.