Synthesis, Structure and Biological Evaluation of Novel Bicyclic Nitroimidazole Derivatives

Recent Progress in the Discovery and Development of 2-Nitroimidazooxazines and 6-Nitroimidazooxazoles to Treat Tuberculosis and Neglected Tropical Diseases

Nitroimidazole drugs have a long history as therapeutic agents to treat bacterial and parasitic diseases. The discovery in 1989 of a bicyclic nitroimidazole lead, displaying in vitro and in vivo antitubercular activity, spurred intensive exploration of this and related scaffolds, which led to the regulatory approval of pretomanid and delamanid as a new class of tuberculosis drugs. Much of the discovery work related to this took place over a 20-year period ending in 2010, which is covered in a number of cited reviews. This review highlights subsequent research published over the 2011–August 2020 timeframe, and captures detailed structure–activity relationship studies and synthetic strategies directed towards uncovering newer generation drugs for both tuberculosis and selected neglected tropical diseases. Additionally, this review presents in silico calculations relating to the drug-like properties of lead compounds and clinical agents, as well as chemical development and manufacturing processes toward providing bulk drug supplies.

Nitroimidazole-containing compounds and their antibacterial and antitubercular activities

Infections especially tuberculosis caused by various bacteria including mycobacteria result in millions of lives every year, but the control of bacterial infections is challenged by the limitation of effective pharmaceuticals against drug-resistant pathogens. Nitroimidazoles belong to a group of nitroheterocyclic compounds that have broad-spectrum activity against a series of organisms such as mycobacteria, anaerobic Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria, and some of them have already been used in clinics or under clinical trials for the treatment of infectious diseases. In this review, we made an overview of the recent advances in nitroimidazole-containing compounds with antibacterial and antitubercular activity in the recent 20 years.