Progress in Nitrogen and Sulphur-based Heterocyclic Compounds for their Anticancer Activity

Cancer is a widespread disease worldwide. Researchers and scientists have been giving much attention to the drug design and drug discovery of nitrogen (N) and sulfur (S)-based heterocyclic compounds in the last decade. These heteroatoms containing heterocyclic compounds have an imperative role in medicinal chemistry in developing new anticancer drugs. These N and S-based heterocyclic compounds such as pyrrole, quinazoline, thiadiazole, and quinoline are widely used in the rational drug design for anticancer drugs with a favorable therapeutic index. They inhibit the cancerous cells by different mechanisms like inhibiting FGFR, VEGFR, EGFR receptors and inducing apoptosis. They also act as a tyrosine kinase inhibitor, dihydrofolate reductase inhibitor, pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma inhibitor, and PI3K inhibitor. This chapter highlights the SAR study of recent literature (2016-2020) in which N and S heterocyclic compounds are present as core structures in molecules. This chapter also emphasizes the benefits of hybrid molecules acting on multiple target mechanisms. In the future, N and S- based heterocyclic compounds will be essential lead compounds for the designing of new anticancer drugs. 

Keywords: Cancer, Chalcone, Hybrid molecules, N-based heterocyclic compounds, S-based heterocyclic compounds, SAR study.