Pyrazine and Phenazine Heterocycles: Platforms for Total Synthesis and Drug Discovery

• Published in: Molecules (Basel, Switzerland) Vol. 27; no. 3; p. 1112
• Main Authors: Huigens, 3rd, Robert W, Brummel, Beau R, Tenneti, Srinivasarao, Garrison, Aaron T, Xiao, Tao
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 07.02.2022; MDPI
• Subjects: Antibiotics; Cancer therapies; Chemistry, Pharmaceutical; Disease; Drug discovery; Drug Discovery - methods; FDA approval; heterocyclic chemistry; Heterocyclic Compounds - chemical synthesis; Humans; Infections; Investigations; Kinases; Leprosy; Leukemia; medicinal chemistry; Multiple myeloma; Natural products; Phenazine; Phenazines - chemistry; Pyrazine; Pyrazines - chemistry; Reagents; Review; RNA polymerase; Steroids; total synthesis; Viral infections; pyrazine; heterocyclic chemistry; phenazine; total synthesis; medicinal chemistry
• ISSN: 1420-3049; 1420-3049
• DOI: 10.3390/molecules27031112

There are numerous pyrazine and phenazine compounds that demonstrate biological activities relevant to the treatment of disease. In this review, we discuss pyrazine and phenazine agents that have shown potential therapeutic value, including several clinically used agents. In addition, we cover some basic science related to pyrazine and phenazine heterocycles, which possess interesting reactivity profiles that have been on display in numerous cases of innovative total synthesis approaches, synthetic methodologies, drug discovery efforts, and medicinal chemistry programs. The majority of this review is focused on presenting instructive total synthesis and medicinal chemistry efforts of select pyrazine and phenazine compounds, and we believe these incredible heterocycles offer promise in medicine.