Currently the development of non-hazardous high-value chemicals from natural resources is one of the biggest challenges for organic chemists.1 In this connection, derivatiza-tion of bioactive compounds isolated from natural resources such as spices has become a field of great interest.2 Plants of the Apiaceae family possess a wide range of compounds with numerous biological activities. Cumin (Cuminum cyminum) is an annual herbaceous plant belonging to this family.18 Cuminaldehyde is derived from the essential oil of the plant's seeds, and the aldehyde is known for its biological activities, but only somewhat limited work has been done on its carbonyl derivatives. We now report on the preparation of novel cuminaldehyde Schiff bases, thiosemicarbazones and hydrazones. We provide information on the biological activities which we observed. The synthetic routes to prepare the compounds are outlined in Scheme 1. Condensation reactions of cuminaldehyde with different primary amines, thiosemicarba-zides and hydrazines in the presence of catalytic amounts of glacial acetic acid yielded the respective Schiff bases, thiosemicarbazones and hydrazones, respectively (see Experimental section).
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