Current Organic Synthesis

Author(s): Claudia R.B. Gomes, Marcus V.N. de Souza* and Victor Facchinetti

DOI: 10.2174/1570179417666191218112842

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A Review on Onychine and its Analogs: Synthesis and Biological Activity

Page: [3 - 22] Pages: 20

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Abstract

Background: Onychine is a 4-azafluorenone alkaloid isolated from the Annonaceae family, in low concentrations. Onychine and its analogs exhibit a wide range of pharmacological activities such as antifungal, antibacterial, anticancer, and antimalarial. Because of the high bioactivity of some 4-azafluorenone derivatives, several synthetic methods have been developed for their procurement.

Objective: Considering the importance of these alkaloids, we aim to present the main synthetic approaches to onychines and its derivatives and the biological activity of some 4-azafluorenones.

Methods: The most prominent methodologies for the synthesis of onychines were reviewed.

Results: In this work, we cover many synthetic approaches for the synthesis of onychine and 4-azafluorenone derivatives including intramolecular cyclizations, multicomponent reactions, microwave-assisted multicomponent reactions, Diels-alder reactions, among others. Moreover, we also review the biological activity of 4-azafluorenones.

Conclusion: 4-azafluorenones have risen as prominent structures in medicinal chemistry; however, most of the time, access to new derivatives involves toxic catalysts, harsh reaction conditions, and long-step procedures. Therefore, the development of new synthetic routes with more operational simplicity, simple purification procedure, good yields, and low environmental impact, is desirable.

Keywords: Onychine, 4-azafluorenone, synthetic methods, biological activity, alkaloid, medicinal chemistry.

Graphical Abstract