Synthesis and pharmacological activities of xanthone derivatives as α-glucosidase inhibitors Original Research Article

Considerable interest has been attracted in xanthone and its derivatives because of their large variety of pharmacological activities. In this project, a series of hydroxylxanthones and their acetoxy and alkoxy derivatives were synthesized and evaluated as α-glucosidase inhibitors, aimed at clarifying the structure–activity correlation. The results indicated that these xanthone derivatives were capable of inhibiting in vitro α-glucosidase with moderate to good activities. Among them, polyhydroxylxanthones exhibited the highest activities and thus may be exploitable as a lead compound for the development of potent α-glucosidase inhibitors.