DHA: An Excellent Source of Bioactive Heterocycles

Dehydroacetic acid (DHA) and its simple derivatives find many interesting applications in the synthesis of various heterocyclic compounds of potential biological interest. A variety of DHA based chemical reactions were found to be useful in the synthesis of 3-cinnamoyl-4-hydroxy-6-methyl-2-oxo-2H-pyrans i.e. Chalcone analogues of DHA, pyranopyrazoles, substituted pyrones, 2H-Pyran and 2H-pyridine-2-ones, pyrimidines, pyrazoles, thiazoles, and pyridazines etc. The present review focuses on the synthetic and biological potential of DHA and provides update on the literature survey upto 2013.