Recent Advances on the Synthesis of Chalcones with Antimicrobial Activities: A Brief Review

The increasing resistance of bacteria and fungi to antimicrobial drugs has been a matter of concern in public health in the last decades. The continuing need for novel therapeutic compounds is still urgent regarding the number of new diseases and resistant strains of microorganisms. Chalcones are ketones alpha,beta-unsaturated with one aromatic ring bonded to carbonyl and another aromatic ring bonded to an olefin function. Literature has already reported the antimicrobial potential of several chalcones against a wide range of fungal and bacterial strains, including resistant ones; clearly indicating that they are attractive target compounds for new antimicrobial drug development. Several studies have shown that the introduction of different functional groups is a strategy used to improve the biological activity of these compounds, moreover, the structure of chalcones can also be employed as an intermediate reaction, enabling different reactions and giving rise to new molecules. In this review, we describe recent advances on the synthesis of chalcones with antimicrobial activities.