Flavonoids and carotenoids possess beneficial physiological effects, such as high antioxidant capacity, anticarcinogenic, immunomodulatory, and anti-inflammatory properties, as well as protective effects against UV light. The covalent coupling of hydrophobic carotenoids with hydrophilic flavonoids, such as daidzein and chrysin, was achieved, resulting in new amphipathic structures. 7-Azidohexyl ethers of daidzein and chrysin were prepared in five steps, and their azide-alkyne [4 + 2] cycloaddition with pentynoates of 8′-apo-β-carotenol, zeaxanthin, and capsanthin afforded carotenoid–flavonoid conjugates. The trolox-equivalent antioxidant capacity against ABTS^•+ radical cation and self-assembly of the final products were examined. The 1:1 flavonoid–carotenoid hybrids generally showed higher antioxidant activity than their parent flavonoids but lower than that of the corresponding carotenoids. The diflavonoid hybrids of zeaxanthin and capsanthin, however, were found to exhibit a synergistic enhancement in antioxidant capacities. ECD (electronic circular dichroism) and UV-vis analysis of zeaxanthin–flavonoid conjugates revealed that they form different optically active J-aggregates in acetone/water and tetrahydrofuran/water mixtures depending on the solvent ratio and type of the applied aprotic polar solvent, while the capsanthin derivatives showed no self-assembly. The zeaxanthin bis-triazole conjugates with daidzein and with chrysin, differing only in the position of a phenolic hydroxyl group, showed significantly different aggregation profile upon the addition of water.

The diastereoselective domino‐Knoevenagel‐IMHDA reactions of 5,6‐dihydro‐2H‐pyran derivatives containing an o‐formylaryl amine or ether moiety were performed with active methylene reagents. In the spiro heterocyclic products representing a novel skeleton, a tetrahydroquinoline or chroman unit is fused with two pyran rings and the bridgehead carbon atoms are chirality centers formed diastereoselectively. Depending on the substitution pattern, a domino Knoevenagel‐[1,5]‐hydride shift‐cyclization sequence was identified as a competing pathway, which resulted in the formation of tetrahydroquinoline derivatives with a 5,6‐dihydro‐2H‐pyran‐3‐yl substituent. The relative configurations of the products were determined by means of the characteristic NOE correlations and single crystal X‐ray diffraction analysis. Antiproliferative activity assays of two products against A2780 and WM35 human cancer cell lines showed low micromolar IC₅₀ values down to 2.99 μM.

Seven new germacranolides (1–3, 5–8), among them a heterodimer (7), and known germacranolide (4), eudesmane (9) and isodaucane (10) sesquiterpenes were isolated from the aerial parts of Neurolaena lobata. Their structures were determined by using a combination of different spectroscopic methods, including HR-ESIMS and 1D and 2D NMR techniques supported by DFT-NMR calculations. The enantiomeric purity of the new compounds was investigated by chiral HPLC analysis, while their absolute configurations were determined by TDDFT-ECD and OR calculations. Due to the conformationally flexible macrocycles and difficulties in assigning the relative configuration, ¹³C and ¹H NMR chemical shift and ECD and OR calculations were performed on several stereoisomers of two derivatives. The isolated compounds (1–10) were shown to have noteworthy antiproliferative activities against three human cervical tumor cell line with different HPV status (HeLa, SiHa and C33A). Additionally, lobatolide C (6) exhibited substantial antiproliferative properties, antimigratory effect, and it induced cell cycle disturbance in SiHa cells.

The carotenoid composition of the flower of Telekia speciosa was investigated for the first time by HPLC-DAD-MS. In addition to the main carotenoid lutein and its geometrical isomers, 5,6-epoxy-carotenoids, namely violaxanthin, lutein 5,6-epoxide and antheraxanthin, were detected in larger amounts. In addition, β-carotene 5,6-epoxide and β-carotene 5,6,5′,6′-diepoxide were found, which occurs very rarely in plants. For unambigous identification, β-carotene 5,6-epoxide and β-carotene 5,6,5′,6′-diepoxide were prepared semisynthetically, and they were characterized by ¹H and ¹³C NMR and HPLC-CD methods.

Optically active heterodimeric 5,5′-linked bis-isochromans, containing a stereogenic ortho-trisubstituted biaryl axis and up to four chirality centers, were synthesized stereoselectively by using a Suzuki–Miyaura biaryl coupling reaction of optically active isochroman and 1-arylpropan-2-ol derivatives, providing the first access to synthetic biaryl-type isochroman dimers. Enantiomeric pairs and stereoisomers up to seven derivatives were prepared with four different substitution patterns, which enabled us to test how OR, ECD, and VCD measurements and DFT calculations can be used to determine parallel central and axial chirality elements in three isolated blocks of chirality. In contrast to natural penicisteckins A–D and related biaryls, the ECD spectra and OR data of (aS) and (aR) atropodiastereomers did not reflect the opposite axial chirality, but they were characteristic of the central chirality. The atropodiastereomers showed consistently near-mirror-image VCD curves, allowing the determination of axial chirality with the aid of DFT calculation or by comparison of characteristic VCD transitions.

Inspired by naturally occurring bis-isochromans such as penicisteckins, we envisaged the first synthesis of biaryl-type bis-1-arylisochromans containing a stereogenic ortho-trisubstituted biaryl axis. We achieved the stereoselective synthesis of 5,5′-linked heterodimeric bis-isochromans containing both central and axial chirality elements by performing diastereoselective Suzuki–Miyaura biaryl coupling reactions on two optically active 1-arylpropan-2-ol derivatives, followed by two oxa-Pictet–Spengler cyclizations with aryl aldehydes or methoxymethyl chloride. We studied the diastereoselectivity of the cyclization step, separated the stereoisomeric products with chiral preparative HPLC and determined the absolute configuration through a combination of vibrational circular dichroism (VCD), NMR and single-crystal X-ray diffraction analysis. We demonstrated that different aryl groups could be introduced into the two isochroman subunits, since the dimethoxyaryl subunit reacted faster, enabling the two oxa-Pictet–Spengler cyclizations to be performed separately with different aryl aldehydes. We also explored the acid-catalyzed isomerization and oxidation to axially chiral ortho-quinones in order to produce stereoisomeric and oxidized analogs, respectively. We identified the antibacterial activity of our target bis-isochromans against Bacillus subtilis and Enterococcus faecalis with minimum inhibitory concentrations down to 4.0 and 0.5 μg/mL, respectively, which depend on the stereochemistry and substitution pattern of the bis-isochroman skeleton.