Dear Colleagues,

For medicinal chemists, heterocyclic molecules are attractive targets. Privileged structures may be found in a variety of heterocyclic scaffolds. Nitrogen heterocycles, or diverse positional combinations of nitrogen atoms, sulfur, and oxygen in five- and six-membered rings, are most frequently encountered. A heterocycle is found in more than 85% of all physiologically active chemical entities, according to statistical data. Benzothiazoles, thiazoles, thiazolidinones, triazoles, and other five-membered heterocycles with two or three heteroatoms are essential structural components in many pharmacological formulations. Imidazoles are the most common heterocycle found in histamin, hydantoin derivatives, particularly in the antiepileptic medication phenytoin, and biotin. One of the few naturally occurring isoxazoles is the antibiotic cycloserine. Thiazole, which is found in thiamin (vitamin B1), penicillin, and bacitracin antibiotics, is another fascinating core of excessive biological activity.

Antifungal, anti-inflammatory, antibacterial, antioxidant, anticonvulsant, antiallergic, enzyme-inhibiting, herbicidal, anti-HIV, antidiabetic, anticancer, and insecticidal agents are all examples of heterocycles found in biomolecules such as enzymes, vitamins, natural products, and biologically active compounds such as antifungal, anti-inflammatory, antibacterial, antioxidant, anticonvulsant, antiallergic, enzyme-inhibiting, and herbicidal compounds.

Advances in synthetic techniques have made it possible to quickly access a broad variety of functionalized heterocycles, which has led to an increase in the presence of diverse heterocycles in pharmaceuticals. As a result, heterocycles are crucial for medicinal chemists because they allow them to expand the accessible drug-like chemical space and drive more successful drug development programs. The current Special Issue objective is to collect and discuss new achievements in the disciplines of heterocyclic compounds with various types of activities, such as anticancer, anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, antibacterial, antidiabetic, and so on.

Prof. Dr. Jamshed Iqbal
Guest Editor

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• heterocyclic compounds
• structure–activity relationship
• biological activity
• current trends
• medicinal chemistry
• molecular docking