A series of phenylbutene and butanol derivatives (6a-j, 12, 13, 15, 17, 24b
,c, 26, 27a,b) were prepared from the readily available resorcinol derivati
ves 2a-f and 7-hydroxy-chroman (18). The products were tested for inhibitor
y activity on the LPS-induced TNF-alpha production in the plasma in compari
son with that of cabenegrin A-I (1a).