Prenylated isoflavones are secondary metabolites that are mainly distributed in legume plants. They often possess divergent biological activities such as anti-bacterial, anti-fungal, and anti-oxidant activities and thus attract much attention in food, medicinal, and agricultural research fields.
Prenylation plays a major role in the diversification of aromatic natural products, such as phenylpropanoids, flavonoids, and coumarins. This biosynthetic reaction represents the crucial coupling process of the shikimate or polyketide pathway providing an aromatic moiety and the isoprenoid pathway