Acta Pharm. 69 (2019) 177-215

full paper

Review

Chemistry and pharmacological diversity of quinoxaline motifs as anticancer agents

OLAYINKA O. AJANI, MARTINS T. NLEBEMUO, JOSEPH A. ADEKOYA, KEHINDE O. OGUNNIRAN, TOLUTOPE O. SIYANBOLA and CHRISTIANA O. AJANAKU

ola.ajani@covenantuniversity.edu.ng

Department of Chemistry, Covenant University, CST, Canaanland, P.M.B. 1023, Ota, Ogun State, Nigeria

Accepted October 26, 2018

Published online November 28, 2018

Surpassing heart diseases, cancer is taking the lead as the deadliest disease because of its fast rate of spreading in all parts of the world. Tireless commitment to searching for novel therapeutic medicines is a worthwhile adventure in synthetic chemistry because of the drug resistance predicament and regular outbreak of new diseases due to abnormal cell growth and proliferation. Medicinal chemistry researchers and pharmacists have unveiled quinoxaline templates as precursors of importance and valuable intermediates in drug discovery because they have been established to possess diverse pharmacological potentials. Hence, this review highlights the current versatile routes to accessing functionalized quinoxaline motifs and harnessing their documented therapeutic potentials for anticancer drug development.

Keywords: quinoxaline, anticancer activity, pharmacophore