A facile synthesis of α, α´-(EE)-bis(benzylidene)-cycloalkanones and their antitubercular evaluations

Abstract An economical and facile synthesis of α,α′-( EE )-bis(benzylidene)-cycloalkanones was achieved by the reaction of cycloalkanones with different aromatic aldehydes using ethanolic KOH in good yields. Few of the selected compounds were reduced with NaBH 4 to the respective α,α′-( EE )-bis(benzylidene)-cycloalkanols. All these compounds and our earlier synthesized cyclohexyl phenyl methanols were evaluated for their antitubercular, antifungal and antibacterial activities. Several compounds displayed moderate antitubercular activity with MIC = 12.5–1.56 μg/mL. However, none of the compounds displayed any significant antifungal activity.