In order to develop novel fungicides, the structure of flavanane phytoalexins was modified in view of bioisosterism and 23 novel title compounds, 2-heteroaryl-4-chromanones, were designed and synthesized, whose structures were confirmed by 1H NMR, MS and elemental analyses. The fungicidal IC50 in vitro against rice blast disease of the title compounds were measured and the quantitative relationship between the structures and fungicidal activities was established using the comparative molecular field analysis (CoMFA) approach. The results of 3D-QSAR analysis suggested that the introduction of s...