Furofuran lignans such as sesamin have been recognized as promising antidiabetic agents as they possess curative as well as preventive effects toward diabetes complications. However, to date the structure-activity relationship has not been investigated due to the lack of a practical synthetic route capable of producing diverse furofuran lignans. Herein, we first introduced a single-step synthesis of these compounds starting from samin (4). Reaction of samin with a variety of electron-rich phenolics under acidic conditions afforded a total of 23 diverse furofuran lignans. On examination their inhibitions against α-glucosidase and free radicals, lignans having a free hydroxy group showed considerably enhanced inhibition, compared with their corresponding starter 4 and related lignans sesamin (1) and sesamolin (3). In addition, the mechanism underlying the α-glucosidase inhibition of a particular active lignan (epi -6) was verified to be mixed manner between competitive and noncompetitive inhibition.
Keywords: Antioxidant; Diabetes; Friedel-Crafts; Glucosidase; Oxocarbenium; Sesamum indicum.