Abstract

Substituted 2-arylbenzothiazoles have emerged in recent years as an important pharmacophore in a number of diagnostic and therapeutic settings. Attractive features of drug candidates based on this benzothiazole scaffold include their synthetic accessibility, and synthetic approaches to 2-arylbenzothiazole-based compounds will be reviewed here. Examples of 2-arylbenzothiazoles endowed with diagnostic/therapeutic activity include the 2-(4-aminophenyl)benzothiazole series, which has a remarkable activity profile in both the potential non-invasive diagnosis of Alzheimers disease and as antitumour agents.

Keywords: 2-Arylbenzothiazoles, synthesis, Alzheimer's disease diagnosis, positron emission tomography, antitumour agents