Iodine-catalyzed one-pot synthesis and antimalarial activity evaluation of symmetrically and asymmetrically substituted 3,6-diphenyl[1,2,4,5]tetraoxanes.

A novel iodine-catalyzed one-pot synthesis of symmetrically and asymmetrically substituted 3,6-diphenyl-[1,2,4,5]tetraoxanes is described. The synthetic protocol is general with substituted benzaldehydes and proceeds well under acidic conditions. Total 17 tetraoxanes have been prepared during this study and some of these compounds exhibit promising antimalarial activity. None of the compounds shows any toxicity against vero cells.