Arabian Journal of Chemistry (Jan 2022)
Synthetic approaches for BF2-containing adducts of outstanding biological potential. A review
Abstract
Organic compounds containing the F or B elements in their structures have recently attracted the interest of the chemists and medicinal chemists because their improved biological properties displayed in comparison to their non-fluorinated or non-borinated parent structures. It is widely been documented that curcumine (CUR) have a high biological potential as antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and anticancer agent, among others, but some drawbacks related to its unfavorable bio-physicochemical properties have prevented its applicability as chemotherapeutic drug. Nevertheless, recent studies have shown that the introduction of the BF2 functionality in its structure (i.e. CUR-BF2 adducts) and analogues have significantly improved their biological properties, mainly, their anticancer and antibiotic activities.On the other hand, the BF2-adduct BODIPY (i.e. 4,4-difluoro-4-bora-3a-azonia-4a-aza-s-indacene) and derivatives are widely known by their outstanding photophysical properties displayed. However, recently it have increased the interest in such structures, but this time, for the biological properties that these fluorescent compounds are also shown, as convenient probes for diverse biological targets.Focusing on the above findings, we were interested into compile, in this review article, the literature documented since 2000–2020 exclusively engaged with the synthetic strategies established for the synthesis of curcumine-BF2 adducts, BODIPY and their related derivatives, in which the biological properties displayed by such structures have been highlighted. Remarkably, the biological activities displayed by the aforementioned BF2-based compounds are mainly related with cell imaging studies, biomolecules recognition and labels, antibiotic properties and antiproliferative agents, which were conveniently used to organize them in concise Tables and Schemes to facilitate their comparisons, and to underscore the key points of the present review.
