Efficient synthesis, and antitumor and antioxidant activities of polyhydroxybenzophenone

Five polyhydroxybenzophenones were synthesized, then their antitumor and antioxidant activities were evaluated. Compounds 1–3 and 5 exhibited obvious antitumor activity. Among them, compounds 1 and 2 exhibited stronger cytotoxicity against hepatocarcinoma SMMC-7721 cells than cisplatin, with half maximal inhibitory concentrations (IC50) of approximately 3.86 and 5.32 μM, respectively. Compounds 1, 2, and 3 exhibited stronger antioxidant activity than trolox, with IC50 values of 11.15, 10.15, and 8.91 μM, respectively, and the antioxidant mechanism and strength of all compounds were further verified using computational chemistry. These results demonstrated that compounds 1–3 and 5 were very promising leads for further structural modification.