Introduction: Chalcone or benzylideneacetophenone or 1,3-diphenyl-2-propene-1-one is a natural product comprising of two aromatic rings connected together by a three-carbon α, β unsaturated carbonyl bridge. It is one of the most privileged scaffolds in medicinal chemistry that can be synthesized in the laboratory and can be converted into several therapeutically active heterocyclic scaffolds. It exhibits multifarious pharmacological activities and also plays a key role in several non-pharmacological scientific applications.
Areas covered: The present article comprehensively focuses on the approved patents during the time duration 2014-2018 on various chalcone molecules with diverse pharmacological activities.
Expert opinion: The study puts forward the latest updated therapeutic applications of chalcone-based compounds as antiproliferative, antidiabetic, anti-infective, anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, antiaging, neuroprotective, and cardioprotective agents. The type, position, and the number of substituents present on the chalcone scaffold have been perceived to play an imperative function in interacting with molecular targets (receptor, enzyme, and/or channel) to express the biological responses. In the majority of the studies, the overall activity of the ligand administered as pharmaceutically acceptable salt is found to be better than that of standard marketed drug preparation. The article will certainly attract (medicinal)-chemists actively involved in the development of therapeutically active scaffolds.
Keywords: Chalcone; anti-cancer; heterocyclic; inhibitor; molecular target; patent; scaffold; therapeutic.