Abstract

The present review deals with the C-prenylation of phenolic compounds, the topic has even gained a considerable scientific attention but still poorly described in the literature. A brief introduction on natural sources of C-prenylated phenolics is highlighted in the first lines, underlining also few of the recent studies on identification, biological applications and biosynthesis of mainly C-prenylflavonoids and -xanthones along with other small C-prenylated phenolic molecules. The paper is majorly focusing on the organic synthetic aspects, throughout, a hundred of papers are reviewed since 1970; most of them have been published during the last decade. A chronological dialogue is presented in order to find out the research progress on the synthesis of this important class of natural compounds; a quite number of synthetic products show higher biological impact than the natural models.

Keywords: C-prenylation, Prenyl, Isoprenyl, Geranyl, Farnesyl, 3-methylbut-2-en-1-yl, Prenyl bromide, 2-hydroxy-2-methylbut-3-ene, Flavonoids, Xanthones, Organic synthesis, Natural occurrence, Biological activity, Biosynthesis.