Identification of a chromone-based retinoid containing a polyolefinic side chain via facile synthetic routes

Attempts to prepare substituted chromones as novel retinoids revealed that some chromones were unstable under Wadsworth–Horner–Emmons reaction conditions. Hence, Wittig reactions were used to prepare chromone-based compounds as potential retinoids. Firstly, Wittig reagents prepared from 3-bromomethyl-chromen-4-one were reacted with olefinic-aldehydes to provide the target compounds with all-trans side chains in good yield. The approach supplies a useful general route to structurally diverse chromone-based compounds possessing a variety of side chains. Sequential Wittig reactions were used also to prepare a chromone-based retinoid. These novel compounds were evaluated in binding assays and a high affinity RAR ligand was identified. Crystal structures obtained for two key precursors aided the interpretation of binding data.