Flavones are organic compounds in the flavonoid family that have a diverse range of biological functions. In this research, many flavones with various substituents were designed and synthesized from flavokawains A, B, and C, and their chalcone derivatives via an iodine-catalyzed oxidative cyclization process. All synthetic flavones were investigated for antifungal activities against Rhizoctonia solani, a plant pathogenic fungus. At 400 µg, most of the substances did not inhibit the tested species and R. solani growth was inhibited by only o-bromoflavone (40) by 74.88±0.91%. This indicated that the detrimental effect of flavones depends on the type and position of substituent, with the ortho bromo group showing the most promise. The molecular docking study on the succinate dehydrogenase (SDH) enzyme revealed that the bromophenyl moiety (ring B) is a key molecular substructure of the flavone fungicide. The findings of this study will be used to develop novel plant pathogenic fungicides.

Weeds are a major cause of crop production losses worldwide, and environmentally friendly chemical control based on natural or semisynthetic compounds has attracted increasing attention. In this study, flavokawains, a class of natural chalcones, and their analogues were converted into dihydrochalcones (1–27) via Pd-catalyzed hydrogenation. The herbicidal activities of these compounds were evaluated against Chinese amaranth (Amaranthus tricolor) and barnyard grass (Echinochloa crus-galli). Several compounds significantly inhibited seed germination and seedling growth in both species. Herbicidal activity was strongly influenced by the type and position of aromatic substituents, with electron-withdrawing groups and meta substitution providing higher activity. The meta-chloro derivative (15) exhibited the highest activity, markedly inhibiting seed germination as well as shoot and root growth. Further investigation of its mode of action revealed that this compound interfered with seed imbibition, inhibited α-amylase activity, and affected membrane integrity and malondialdehyde (MDA) levels in A. tricolor in a concentration-dependent manner. These findings provide valuable insights for the development of natural product-derived herbicides.