Chem Sci Trans., 2013, 2(1), 81-84 Chemical Science Transactions DOI:10.7598/cst2013.313 ISSN/E-ISSN: 2278-3458/2278-3318 Synthesis of Some Novel β-Diketones and β-Ketoesters of 4-Methyl Sulphonyl Benzoyl Methylene Bromide NEETU KUMARI, PRADEEP YADAV and YOGESH C. JOSHI * Department of Chemistry, University of Rajasthan, Jaipur-302 004, India drycj_16@yahoo.com Received 16 July 2012/ Accepted 16 August 2012 Abstract: Various novel β-diketones and β-ketoesters (4a-e) have been prepared by the condensation of 4-methyl sulphonyl benzoyl methylene bromide (2) with β−diketones and β-ketoesters (3a-e) in the presence of sodium methoxide in dry toluene. The structure of newly synthesized compounds have been elucidated by elemental analysis, IR, 1 H NMR and 13 CNMR studies. Keywords: β-Diketones, β- Ketoesters, 4-Methyl sulphonyl benzoyl methylene bromide Introduction The importance of β-diketones/β-ketoesters in synthetic organic chemistry is difficult to overstate. β-Diketones/β-ketoesters are stable, usually nontoxic and therefore convenient for storage and use. It is mainly due to their high reactivity that predetermines them for synthesis of various types of compounds, particularly heterocycles such as diazepines 1 , benzodiazepines 2 , benzothiazepines 3 , benzothiazines 4 , pyrazole 5 , imidazole and benzimidazole 6 . Aside from their synthetic importance, they play a vital role as building blocks for construction of broad diversity of natural products including aromatic and many heterocycles 7,8 . Curcumin diferuloyl methane is a polyphenolic diketonic constituent of spice turmeric which possess anticarcinogenic properties 9 . Curcumin found in curcuma and its hydrogenated derivative tetrahydrocurcumin are 1,3-diketones recognized for their wide range of antioxidative 10 , antitumor 11,12 , antibacterial 13 and detoxification properties 14,15 . Aromatic (Z, E) dienyl diketones exhibited strong in vitro inhibition of tumor cell growth against colon cell line 16 . β-Diketone derivatives also exhibit a high level of activity against herpes virus type 1 and 2 17,18 . Manifold biological important derivatives of compound (1), (2) and in continuation of over earlier work published 19,20 developed our interest to synthesize some novel biologically active β-diketones/ β-ketoesters. RESEARCH ARTICLE