A series of novel daphneolone analogs was designed and synthesized on the basis of natural product 1,5-diphenyl-2-penten-1-one(I) from Stellera chamaejasme L. as lead compound, whereby 2,6-dimethylmorpholine moiety was introduced to replace 1-phenyl group. Their structures were confirmed by IR,1H NMR, and HRMS(ESI) or elemental analysis,13 C NMR for some representative compounds. The two isomers of target compounds were separated and identified by NOESY technique and chemical method.All of the synthesized compounds have been evaluated for anti-plant pathogenic fungi activities. The results showed that some compounds exhibited moderate to good antifungal activities against tested fungi at the concentration of 50 mg/L. Among them, compound 7d, with a 4-bromine-substituted phenyl group and cis-2,6-dimethylmorpholine moiety, displayed best activity with an EC50 of 23.87 mmol/L against Valsa mali, superior to lead compound I. In addition, preliminary structure–activity relationship analysis indicated that, between two isomers of target compounds, the antifungal activities of the isomer with cis-2,6-dimethylmorpholine were better than the trans-isomer.
