Abstract
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.