Catalyst Free, Microwave-assisted Synthesis of Benzylidene Schiff Bases and Evaluation of Their Biological Properties

Phenol Schiff bases can conveniently be prepared in high yield by the reaction of the appropriate aminophenols and aldehydes in solventless condition. The final target compounds were characterized by FT-IR, ¹HNMR, ¹³CNMR, and Mass spectroscopy. Microwave assistance reduced the reaction time and solvent, increased the yield, purity, and eased the work up. The compounds were found to possess moderate to good antibacterial activity implying that the synthesized compounds may make excellent candidates for further studies aimed at discovering novel antibacterial agents. In vitro antioxidant qualities of the synthesized Schiff bases are also evaluated. In the tests for reducing power and radical scavenging, all the compounds demonstrated strong antioxidant activity even surpassing that of the positive control, Trolox.