Synthesis, antimicrobial and antiradical activity of (3-alkoxymethyl-4-hydroxyphenyl)propan-1-ones, intermediates of biologically active compounds and activity comparison with 3-(alkoxymethyl)-4-(alkylamino-2-hydroxypropoxyphenyl)alkanones type of beta blockers

A homologous series of (3-alkoxymethyl-4-hydroxyphenyl)propan-1-ones was prepared by the reaction of (3-chloromethyl-4-hydroxyphenyl)propan-1-ones with the corresponding alcohols (methanol – decan-1-ol, propan-2-ol, 2-methylpropan-1-ol, 3-methylbutan-1-ol, cyclopentanol, benzylalcohol) in the presence of sodium hydrogen carbonate. The composition of the synthesised compounds was elucidated by IR, UV and ¹H-NMR and ¹³C-NMR spectra. Selected compounds were tested against human pathogens: gram-positive bacterium Staphylococcus aureus (CNCTC Mau 29/58), gram-negative bacterium Escherichia coli (CNCTC 377/79) and yeast Candida albicans (CCM 8186). Their antimicrobial activities were expressed as minimum inhibitory concentrations. Antioxidant activity was determined using DPPH and ABTS^.+ methods. It could be shown that both biological activities, antimicrobial and antioxidant, were lower in comparison with the (2RS)-bis [3-(4-acetyl-2-propoxymethyl)phenoxy-2-hydroxypropyl]isopropylammonium fumarate type of beta blockers.