Abstract In an effort to develop new and potent agents for therapy against tuberculosis, a high-throughput screen was performed against Mycobacterium tuberculosis strain H37Rv. Two 6-aryl-5, 7-dimethyl-4-phenylcoumarin compounds 1a and 1b were found with modest activity. A series of coumarin derivatives were synthesized to improve potency and to investigate the structure–activity relationship of the series. Among them, compounds 1o ...