Recent accomplishments on the synthetic/biological facets of pharmacologically active 1H-1,2,3-triazoles.

The continuous demand of medicinally important scaffolds has prompted the synthetic chemists to identify simple and efficient routes for their synthesis. 1H-1,2,3-triazole, obtained by highly versatile, efficacious and selective "Click Reaction" has become a synthetic/medicinal chemist's favorite not only because of its ability to mimic different functional groups but also due to enhancement in the targeted biological activities. Triazole ring has also been shown to play a critical role in biomolecular mimetics, fragment-based drug design, and bioorthogonal methodologies. In addition, the availability of triazole containing drugs such as fluconazole, furacyclin, etizolam, voriconazole, triozolam etc. in market has underscored the potential of this biologically enriched core in expediting development of new scaffolds. The present review, therefore, is an attempt to highlight the recent synthetic/biological advancements in triazole derivatives that could facilitate the in-depth understanding of its role in the drug discovery process.

Ferrocene-appended pharmacophores: an exciting approach for modulating the biological potential of organic scaffolds.

Two exemplary contributions of organometallics in medicinal chemistry, ferroquine and ferrocifen, which exhibit excellent anti-plasmodial and anti-cancer activities, respectively, have opened a new field called medicinal organometallic chemistry. This field has been gaining significant interest due to the recent upsurge in ferrocene-linked organic frameworks with promising biological potential. The success of ferrocene is due to the sustained efforts by organic medicinal chemists and its inherent stability in air, heat and light, low toxicity, low cost and reversible redox properties. The replacement of the aryl/heteroaryl core with a ferrocene nucleus in organic molecules imparts a significant change not only in their molecular properties, such as solubility and hydro-/lipophilicity, but also improves the activities of bioactive compounds. Ferrocifen (ferrocene analogue of hydroxytamoxifen) possesses the remarkable feature of being anti-proliferative against both the MCF-7 (hormone dependent) and MDA-MB-231 (hormone independent) breast cancer cell lines. Accordingly, this review article is aimed at updating researchers on the recent developments (2014-18) on the synthesis and evaluation of ferrocene-containing bio-active pharmacophores with emphasis on their structure-activity relationship and mechanism of action.

Correction: Ferrocene-appended pharmacophores: an exciting approach for modulating the biological potential of organic scaffolds.

Correction for 'Ferrocene-appended pharmacophores: an exciting approach for modulating the biological potential of organic scaffolds' by Amandeep Singh et al., Dalton Trans., 2019, DOI: 10.1039/c8dt03440k.

Discovery of highly selective 7-chloroquinoline-thiohydantoins with potent antimalarial activity.

A series of C-3 thiourea functionalized ß-lactams, ß-lactam-7-chloroquinoline conjugates and 7-chloroquinoline-thiohydantoin derivatives were prepared with the aim of probing antimalarial structure-activity relationships. 7-Chlorquinoline-thiohydantoin derivatives were found to be potent inhibitors of cultured Plasmodium falciparum, with the most potent and non-cytotoxic compound exhibiting an IC50 of 39.8 nM. Studies of ß-hematin formation suggested that inhibition of haemozoin formation could be primary mechanism of action, with IC50 values comparable to those of chloroquine. Evaluation of cytotoxicity against HeLa cells demonstrated high selective indices.