Chalcone analogs have been reported to have a variety of exciting biological activities, such as anticancer, anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, photoprotective, antibacterial, and antidiabetic activities. Therefore, analogs of these compounds have been widely synthesized as intermediate compounds or target molecules in the discovery of bioactive compounds to be applied in the pharmaceutical field. The purpose of this study is to synthesize chalcone analog compounds (E)-1-(4-hydroxyphenyl)-3-(4-methoxyphenyl) prop-2-en-1-on with the microwave irradiation method and explore some of the biological activities of these compounds, including testing the antioxidant activity by 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) method, in vitro sunscreen activity by microplate method, and antibacterial activity by disk diffusion method. DPPH test results indicate that the compound has weak antioxidant activity, with an IC50 value of 300.43 µg/mL. However, the compound showed excellent potential as a UV B and UV A filter at a concentration of 150 µg/mL with a value of %Te of 0.73±0.10% (sunblock), %Tp of 0.07±0.00% (sunblock), SPF value of 21.10±1.46 (ultra-protection) and potentially better than benzophenone-3 as a standard sunscreen. Then, disk diffusion testing showed that the compound had weak antibacterial activity against Staphylococcus aureus and did not show antibacterial activity against Escherichia coli bacteria at test concentrations of 30, 60, and 120 µg/disk.

Chalcone analogues have attracted the attention of researchers due to their various biological activities. In this study, a chalcone analogue, (E)-1-(3-hydroxyphenyl)-3-(4-methoxyphenyl)prop-2-en-1-on has been synthesized under microwave irradiation and its sunscreen activity has been evaluated by in vitro assay using 96-well microplate reader.  Based on the in vitro assay, at concentration of 100-500 µg/ml, the compound showed potential sunscreen activity with %Te value of 5.49 – 0.04 % (extra protection – sunblock), %Tp value of 0.51-0.05 % (sunblock) and SPF value of 18.20 – 32.91 (ultra protection). The assay result showed that the (E)-1-(3-hydroxyphenyl)-3-(4-methoxyphenyl)prop-2-en-1-on has a potency to be developed as active ingredient in sunscreen product.