Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2022 Dec;194(12):6438-6467.
doi: 10.1007/s12010-022-04099-w. Epub 2022 Jul 28.

Oxygen- and Sulphur-Containing Heterocyclic Compounds as Potential Anticancer Agents

Harshita Sachdeva  1 , Sarita Khaturia  2 , Mohammad Saquib  3 , Narsingh Khatik  4 , Abhinav Raj Khandelwal  4 , Ravina Meena  4 , Khushboo Sharma  4
Affiliations
Review

Oxygen- and Sulphur-Containing Heterocyclic Compounds as Potential Anticancer Agents

Harshita Sachdeva et al. Appl Biochem Biotechnol. 2022 Dec.

Abstract

Oxygen- and sulphur-based heterocycles form the core structure of many biologically active molecules as well as U.S. FDA-approved drugs. Moreover, they possess broad range of biological activities, viz. anticancer, antiinflammatory, antioxidant, antitumour, antibacterial, antiviral, antidiabetic, anticonvulsant, anti-tubercular, analgesic, anti-leishmanial, antimalarial, antifungal, and anti-histaminic, Hence, O- and S-based heterocycles are gaining more attention in recent years on the road to the discovery of innovative anticancer drugs after the extensive investigation of nitrogen-based heterocycles as anticancer agents. Several attempts have been made to synthesize fused oxygen- and sulphur-based heterocyclic derivatives as joining one heterocyclic moiety with another may lead to improvement in the biological profile of a molecule. Humans have been cursed with cancer since long time. Despite the development of several heterocyclic anticancer medications such as 5-fluorouracil, doxorubicin, methotrexate, and daunorubicin, cure of cancer is difficult. Hence, researchers are trying to synthesize new fused/spiro heterocyclic molecules to discover novel anticancer drugs which may show promising anticancer effects with fewer side effects. Furthermore, fused heterocycles behave as DNA intercalating agents which have the ability to interact with DNA, leading to cell death thereby exerting anticancer effect. This review article highlights the synthesis and anticancer potentiality of oxygen- and sulphur-containing heterocyclic compounds covering the period from 2011 to 2021.

Keywords: Anticancer agents; Heterocyclic compounds; Oxygen-based; Sulphur-based.

PubMed Disclaimer

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

References

    1. Irfan, A., Batool, F., Zahra Naqvi, S. A., Islam, A., Osman, S. M., Nocentini, A., Alissa, S. A., & Supuran, C. T. (2020). Benzothiazole derivatives as anticancer agents. Journal of Enzyme Inhibition and Medicinal Chemistry, 35, 265–79. - PubMed - DOI
    1. Ali, I., Nadeem Lone, M., Al-Othman, A. Z., Al-Warthan, A., & MarsinSanagi, M. (2015). Heterocyclic scaffolds: Centrality in anticancer drug development. Current Drug Targets, 16, 711–34. - PubMed - DOI
    1. Sachdeva, H., Mathur, J., & Guleria, A. (2020). Indole derivatives as potential anticancer agents: A review. Journal of the Chilean Chemical Society, 65(3), 4900–4907. - DOI
    1. Martins, P., Jesus, J., Santos, S., Raposo, L. R., Roma-Rodrigues, C., Baptista, P. V., & Fernandes, A. R. (2015). Heterocyclic anticancer compounds: Recent advances and the paradigm shift towards the use of nanomedicine’s tool box. Molecules, 20, 16852–16891. - PubMed - PMC - DOI
    1. Pearce, S. (2017) The importance of heterocyclic compounds in anti-cancer drug design. Drug Discovery, 67.

MeSH terms

LinkOut - more resources

-