Therapeutic advancement of benzothiazole derivatives in the last decennial period

Benzothiazole, a fused heterocyclic moiety, has attracted synthetic and medicinal chemists for good reasons. It is a valuable scaffold that possesses diverse biological activities, such as anticancer, anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial, antiviral, antimalarial, and anticonvulsant effects. This review mainly focusses on the recent research work on the different biological activities of benzothiazole-based compounds.

A comprehensive review in current developments of benzothiazole-based molecules in medicinal chemistry

Benzothiazole (BTA) and its derivatives are the most important heterocyclic compounds, which are common and integral feature of a variety of natural products and pharmaceutical agents. BTA shows a variety of pharmacological properties, and its analogs offer a high degree of structural diversity that has proven useful for the search of new therapeutic agents. The broad spectrum of pharmacological activity in individual BTA derivative indicates that, this series of compounds is of an undoubted interest. The related research and developments in BTA-based medicinal chemistry have become a rapidly developing and increasingly active topic. Particularly, numerous BTA-based compounds as clinical drugs have been extensively used in practice to treat various types of diseases with high therapeutic potency. This work systematically gives a comprehensive review in current developments of BTA-based compounds in the whole range of medicinal chemistry as anticancer, antibacterial, antifungal, antiinflammatory, analgesic, anti-HIV, antioxidant, anticonvulsant, antitubercular, antidiabetic, antileishmanial, antihistaminic, antimalarial and other medicinal agents. It is believed that, this review article is helpful for new thoughts in the quest for rational designs of more active and less toxic BTA-based drugs, as well as more effective diagnostic agents and pathologic probes.

Synthesis and E/Z configuration determination of novel derivatives of 3-aryl-2-(benzothiazol-2'-ylthio) acrylonitrile, 3-(benzothiazol-2'-ylthio)-4-(furan-2''-yl)-3-buten-2-one and 2-(1-(furan-2''-yl)-3'-oxobut-1''-en-2-ylthio)-3-phenylquinazolin-4(3H)-one

Knoevenagel condensation of 2-(benzothiazol-2-ylthio) acetonitrile (2) with either furan-2-carbaldehyde or thiophene-2-carbaldehydes leads to E-isomers 4a–b exclusively, while the condensation of the compound 2 with benzaldehyde or para-substituted benzaldehydes with an electron-donating group afforded E/Z mixtures 4c–e with preferentially formation of the E-isomer. Condensation of furan-2-carbaldehyde (3a) with either 1-(benzothiazol-2'-ylthio) propan-2-one (5) or 2-(2'-oxo propylthio)-3-phenyl-quinazolin-4(3H)-one (9) leads exclusively to the Z-isomers of 6 and 10, respectively. The structures of the newly synthesized compounds were elucidated by elemental analyses, ¹H-NMR and ¹³C-NMR spectra, COSY, HSQC, HMBC, NOE, MS and X-ray crystallographic investigations.