Synthesis and antimicrobial evaluation of novel analogues of dehydroabietic acid prepared by CH-Activation.

Dehydroabietic acid (DHAA) plays an important role in drug discovery. Its modification at chemically reactive positions has been exploited to a large extent over the last decades, generating a wide range of analogues. In contrast, introduction of substituents at chemically inert positions remains a sizeable challenge. Hereby we wish to report the synthesis of a first series of C-19-arylated DHAA-analogues by application of a simple CH activation protocol, as well as their antimicrobial activity against methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA).