Recent advance in oxazole-based medicinal chemistry.

Oxazole compounds containing nitrogen and oxygen atoms in the five-membered aromatic ring are readily able to bind with a variety of enzymes and receptors in biological systems via diverse non-covalent interactions, and thus display versatile biological activities. The related researches in oxazole-based derivatives including oxazoles, isoxazoles, oxazolines, oxadiazoles, oxazolidones, benzoxazoles and so on, as medicinal drugs have been an extremely active topic, and numerous excellent achievements have been acquired. Noticeably, a large number of oxazole compounds as clinical drugs or candidates have been frequently employed for the treatment of various types of diseases, which have shown their large development value and wide potential as medicinal agents. This work systematically reviewed the recent researches and developments of the whole range of oxazole compounds as medicinal drugs, including antibacterial, antifungal, antiviral, antitubercular, anticancer, anti-inflammatory and analgesic, antidiabetic, antiparasitic, anti-obesitic, anti-neuropathic, antioxidative as well as other biological activities. The perspectives of the foreseeable future in the research and development of oxazole-based compounds as medicinal drugs are also presented. It is hoped that this review will serve as a stimulant for new thoughts in the quest for rational designs of more active and less toxic oxazole medicinal drugs.