Miscellany of Chromene

Chromenes (Benzopyran) comprise a major class of pharmacophores widely distributed in various natural products, synthetic drugs, and therapeutic leads. They have been able to fascinate scientists due to the diverse pharmacological activities they possess and the variety of interesting chemical reactions they exhibit. This chapter critically reviews and highlights the general spectroscopic characteristics of chromenes, the diversity of naturally available chromenes as well as various strategies and mechanisms to develop synthetic chromenes. Recent biological application of chromenes of both natural and synthetic origin is also summarized here.