Prashar et al., IJPSR, 2012; Vol. 3(7): 1000-1014 ISSN: 0975-8232 Available online on www.ijpsr.com 1000 IJPSR (2012), Vol. 3, Issue 07 (Review Article) Received on 23 February, 2012; received in revised form 12 April, 2012; accepted 13 June, 2012 CHALCONE AS A VERSATILE MOIETY FOR DIVERSE PHARMACOLOGICAL ACTIVITIES Hatish Prashar*, Anshul Chawla, Anil Kumar Sharma and Rajeev Kharb CT Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Jalandhar, Punjab, India ABSTRACT Chalcones are 1, 3-diphenyl-2-propene-1-one, consist of two aromatic rings linked by a three carbon α, β-unsaturated carbonyl system. The chemistry of chalcones has generated intensive scientific studies throughout the world. Especially interest has been focused on the synthesis and biodynamic activities of chalcones. These are considered to be precursors of flavonoids and isoflavonoids. The aim of this review is to summarize chalcones and their diverse pharmacological activities like anticancer, antimicrobial, analgesic and antiviral activities etc. INTRODUCTION: Chalcones are well known intermediates for synthesizing various heterocyclic compounds. The compounds with the backbone of chalcones have been reported to possess various biological activities such as antimicrobial, anti- inflammatory, analgesic, antiplatel, antiulcerative, antimalarial, anticancer, antiviral, antileishmanial, Antioxidant, Antitubercular, antihyperglycemic, activities. The presence of a reactive & unsatutated keto function in chalcones is found to be responsible for their antimicrobial activity. In the present communication, we report the reaction of various acetophenone derivatives with different aromatic aldehyde derivatives to form chalcones. The structures of the various synthesized compounds were assigned on the basis of IR, 1H-NMR spectral data and elemental analysis. These compounds were also screened for their antimicrobial activity. Chalcone constitute an impartment group of natural products and some of them possess a wide range of biological activities such as antimicrobial 1 anticancer 2 antitubercular 3 . The general Method of synthesis of chalcone as shown below: Physical Properties of Chalcone: The physical properties of chalcone are as follows:- Molecular formula : C 15 H 12 O Molar mass : 208.26 g mol −1 Exact mass : 208.088815 Density : 1.071 g/cm 3 Melting point : 55–57 °C Boiling point : 345-348 °C Keywords: Chalcone, Antimicrobial, Antileishimanial, Anticancer, Antimalarial Activities Correspondence to Author: Hatish Prashar CT Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Jalandhar, Punjab, India E-mail: ishu12nov@yahoo.com