A series of novel 3-aryl-4-hydroxy-2(5H) furanone-acrylate hybrids were designed and synthesized based on the natural butenolides and acrylates scaffolds. The structures of the prepared compounds were characterized by ¹H-NMR, 13C-NMR and electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (ESI-MS), and the bioactivity of the target compounds against twelve phytopathogenic fungi was investigated. The preliminary in vitro antifungal activity screening showed that most of the target compounds had moderate inhibition on various pathogenic fungi at the concentration of 100 mg·L-1, and presented broad-spectrum antifungal activities. Further studies also indicated that compounds 7e and 7k still showed some inhibitory activity against Pestallozzia theae, Sclerotinia sclerotiorum and Gibberella zeae on rape plants at lower concentrations, which could be optimized as a secondary lead for further research.
Keywords: 3-aryl-4-hydroxy-2(5H)-furanone; acrylate; antifungal activity; butenolides; natural product.