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Harnessing the Chemistry of the Indole Heterocycle to Drive Discoveries in Biology and Medicine
Author(s) -
Norwood Verrill M.,
Huigens Robert W.
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
chembiochem
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.05
H-Index - 126
eISSN - 1439-7633
pISSN - 1439-4227
DOI - 10.1002/cbic.201800768
Subject(s) - indole test , chemistry , chemical space , combinatorial chemistry , chemical biology , computational biology , drug discovery , nanotechnology , biology , organic chemistry , biochemistry , materials science
Indole‐containing compounds demonstrate an array of biological activities relevant to numerous human diseases. The biological activities of diverse indole‐based agents are driven by molecular interactions between indole agent and critical therapeutic target. The chemical inventory of medicinally useful or promising indole compounds spans the entire structural spectrum, from simple synthetic indoles to highly complex indole alkaloids. In an analogous fashion, the chemistry behind the indole heterocycle is unique and provides rich opportunities for extensive synthetic chemistry, enabling the construction and development of novel indole compounds to explore chemical space. This review will present heterocyclic chemistry of the indole nucleus, indole compounds of clinical use, complex indole alkaloids and indole‐inspired discovery efforts by multiple research groups interested in using novel indole‐containing small molecules to drive discoveries in human biology and medicine.