Enantioseparation and anti-rhinovirus activity of 3-benzylchroman-4-ones

In a series of homo-isoflavonoids, chloro-substituted rac-3-benzylchroman-4-ones (3 d-f) showed an antiviral in vitro activity against selected picornaviruses. In order to study the anti-rhinovirus activity of each stereoisomer, racemic mixtures of 3 d and 3 e were successfully resolved by high-performance liquid chromatography, using a Whelk-O 1 column as chiral stationary phase. The CD spectra confirm that the two eluates of each compound are enantiomers but do not allow the assignment of their absolute configurations. The antiviral activity of the isomers and their racemates was tested in vitro against human rhinovirus serotype 1B and 14 infection, by means of the plaque reduction assay. All homoisoflavonoids tested exhibited an inhibitory effect on rhinovirus replication with an activity depending on virus serotype and compound. The two enantiomers of each compound and the corresponding racemate were equipotent, clearly showing that the configuration of the chiral center in position 3 does not influence the activity against both rhinovirus serotypes.