Synthesis of novel compounds as new potent tyrosinase inhibitors

In the present paper, we report the synthesis and pharmacological evaluation of a new series of azo compounds with different groups (1-naphthol, 2-naphthol, and N,N-dimethylaniline) and trifluoromethoxy and fluoro substituents in the scaffold. All synthesized compounds (5a-5f) showed the most potent mushroom tyrosinase inhibition (IC₅₀ values in the range of 4.39 ± 0.76-1.71 ± 0.49 µM), comparable to the kojic acid, as reference standard inhibitor. All the novel compounds were characterized by FT-IR, ¹H NMR, ¹³C NMR, and elemental analysis.