Oxirane is a three-membered ring compound consisting of one oxygen atom and two carbon atoms. Oxirane is present in natural products such as cryptocin, which has anticancer properties, and azidomycin, trienone, and epoxidomycin, which have shown activity against drug-resistant leukemias and AIDS-related lymphomas. Other oxirane containing bioactive molecules have anti-inflammatory, immunosuppressive, and antitumor activities. Oxiranes are a strained ring susceptible to various nucleophilic, ring-opening or rearrangement reactions, so they are considered to be one of the most important intermediates in organic synthesis.
Phenanthrene is a crystalline tricyclic aromatic hydrocarbon with the molecular formula C14H10. The centers of the three rings of phenanthrene are not in a straight line and are the isomers of anthracene. In medicine, phenanthrene can synthesize alkaloids. Although phenanthrene is considered a relatively small natural product, discovering new phenanthrene derivatives and evaluating their potential biological activity has become of great interest to many research groups worldwide.