Synthesis of new 2,6-bis(benzoxazol-2-yl)-4-(tert-butyl)phenol with fluorescent properties.

Benzoxazoles are heterocyclic compounds that are found in natural products or can be obtained synthetically. To this family belong substances that exhibit antiviral, antibacterial or herbicidal properties.1 An example is UK-1, an antitumor metabolite produced by strain 517-02 of Streptomices sp, which shows enhanced cytotoxic activity against B16, HeLa and P338 cells.1a In addition to these biological properties, benzoxazoles exhibit the property ofototautomerization, which is an excited state intramolecular proton transfer process (ESIPT).