Curcumin (diferuloylmethane), a golden pigment from turmeric, has been linked with antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, anticancer, antiviral, antibacterial, and antidiabetic properties. Most of the these activities have been assigned to methoxy, hydroxyl, α,β-unsaturated carbonyl moiety or to diketone groups present in curcumin. One of the major metabolites of curcumin is tetrahydrocurcumin (THC), ...

Cerium(III) nitrate hexahydrate efficiently catalyzes the three-component Biginelli reaction under solvent-free conditions of an aldehyde, a beta-keto ester or beta-diketone and urea or thiourea to afford the corresponding 3,4-dihydropyrimidin-2(1H)-ones or -thiones in excellent yields.

Bis-adducts of 1,2,3,4-tetrahalo-5,5-dimethoxycyclopentadiene and 1,3-butadiene, generated in situ from 3-sulfolene, have been synthesized in excellent yield. Ruthenium catalyzed oxidation of the bis-adducts followed by a one-pot transformation of the resulting alpha-diketone furnished oxa-bridged compounds. Unambiguous stereochemical assignments of both diastereomeric series are reported.

A novel extractant beta-diketone-substituted diaza-18-crown-6 demonstrated very efficient extraction of Sr(2+) due to an intramolecular synergistic effect on the ionic liquid extraction system and recovery of Sr(2+) from the ionic liquid was successfully achieved under acidic conditions.