Novel Trifluoromethylcoumarinyl Urea Derivatives: Synthesis, Characterization, Fluorescence, and Bioactivity

Abstract

A series of novel trifluoromethylcoumarinyl urea derivatives were designed, synthesized, and characterized by ¹H-NMR, ¹³C-NMR, and HR-ESI-MS. The fluorescence spectra of the target compounds were recorded. The spectra show that most of the title compounds glow green with λ_max^em of 500–517 nm, while compounds 5r, 5s, 5u, and 5l (compounds named by authors) glow violet with λ_max^em of 381–443 nm. Moreover, the herbicidal and antifungal activities of the synthesized compounds were evaluated for their potential use as pesticides. The results indicate that compound 5f against the caulis of Amaranthus retroflexus and compounds 5j and 5l against the taproot of Digitaria sanguinalis are equivalent to the commercial herbicide Acetochlor. Nine of the title compounds are more antifungal than commercial fungicide Carbendazim against Botrytis cinerea.