Design and synthesis of coumarinyl 1,4-benzodioxanes as potential anti-oxidant

A series of novel coumarinyl 1,4-benzodioxanes were successfully synthesized from electronically diverse 2-[(o-iodophenoxy)methyl]oxiranes and different positional isomers of hydroxycoumarin via one-pot tandem nucleophilic displacement and copper-mediated intramolecular C–O coupling reaction using CuI and 1,10-phenanthroline as the efficient catalytic system. All the compounds were characterized by 1H, 13C NMR, IR, HRMS spectra and a selected set of newly synthesized compounds offered noticeable in vitro free hydroxyl radical scavenging activity in a systematic dose dependent manner which signifies their excellent biological potential.