Synthesis, in vitro cytotoxicity, and anti-microbial studies of 1,4-bis(4-substituted-5-mercapto-1,2,4-triazol-3-yl)butanes

Thioethers: An Overview

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Spreading rapidly in recent years, cancer has become one of the causes of the highest mor-tality rates after cardiovascular diseases. The reason for cancer development is still not clearly under-stood despite enormous research activities in this area. Scientists are now working on the biology of cancer, especially on the root cause of cancer development. The aim is to treat the cancer disease and thus cure the patients. The continuing efforts for the development of novel molecules as potential anti-cancer agents are essential for this purpose. The main aim of this review was to present a survey on the medicinal chemistry of thioethers and provide practical data on their cytotoxicities against various cancer cell lines. The research articles published between 2001-2020 were consulted to pre-pare this review article; however, patent literature has not been included. The thioether-containing heterocyclic compounds may emerge as a new class of potent and effective anti-cancer agents in the future.

Dimeric Drugs

This review intends to summarize the structures of an extensive number of symmetrical-dimeric drugs, having two monomers linked via a bridging entity while emphasizing the large versatility of biologically active substances reported to possess dimeric structures. The largest number of classes of these compounds consist of anticancer agents, antibiotics/antimicrobials, and anti-AIDS drugs. Other symmetrical-dimeric drugs include antidiabetics, antidepressants, analgesics, anti-inflammatories, drugs for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease, anticholesterolemics, estrogenics, antioxidants, enzyme inhibitors, anti-Parkisonians, laxatives, antiallergy compounds, cannabinoids, etc. Most of the articles reviewed do not compare the activity/potency of the dimers to that of their corresponding monomers. Only in limited cases, various suggestions have been made to justify unexpected higher activity of the dimers vs. the corresponding monomers. These suggestions include statistical effects, the presence of dimeric receptors, binding of a dimer to two receptors simultaneously, and others. It is virtually impossible to predict which dimers will be preferable to their respective monomers, or which linking bridges will lead to the most active compounds. It is expected that the extensive number of articles summarized, and the large variety of substances mentioned, which display various biological activities, should be of interest to many academic and industrial medicinal chemists.