With the significant increase of patients suffering from different types of cancer, it is evident that prompt measures in the development of novel and effective agents need to be taken. Pyrrole moiety has been found in various active compounds with anti-inflammatory, antiseptic, antibacterial, lipid-lowering and anticancer properties. Recent advances in the exploration of highly active and selective cytotoxic structures containing pyrrole motifs have shown promising data for future investigations. Accordingly, this review presents an overview of recent developments in the pyrrole derivatives as anticancer agents, with a main focus towards the key moieties required for the anti-tumor activities. Pyrrole molecules comprising prominent targeting capacities against microtubule polymerization, tyrosine kinases, cytochrome p450 family 1, histone deacetylase and bcl-2 proteins were reported. In addition, several mechanisms of action, such as apoptosis, cell cycle arrest, inhibiting kinases, angiogenesis, disruption of cell migration, modulation of nuclear receptor responsiveness and others were analyzed. Furthermore, in most of the discussed cases we provided synthesis schemes of the mentioned molecules. Overall, the utilization of pyrrole scaffold for the design and synthesis of novel anticancer drugs could be a promising approach for future investigations.

The synthesis of some aliphatic and arylaliphatic amides of caffeine-8-thioglycolic acid was studied. The structures of synthesized compounds were proved by micro-analyses, IR- and 1H NMR data. Values of acute p.o. and i.p. toxicity in mice show lower toxicity compared to caffeine. Declines in spontaneous locomotor activity support the idea of depressive CNS activity of the compounds. Two compounds exhibited brain antihypoxic activity (5a and 5b against haemic and circulatory hypoxia, respectively).

Piperazine nucleus is one of the most important heterocyclic systems exhibiting remarkable pharmacological activities. Thus, in the current study six new aryl/aralkyl substituted piperazine derivatives, containing methylxanthine moiety were synthesized and their structures were confirmed by IR and 1H NMR analysis. All compounds were in vitro screened for their activity as antioxidants using DPPH (2,2′-Diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl), ABTS (2,2′-azinobis-(3-ethylbenzo thiazine-6-sulfonic acid)) and FRAP (ferric reducing/antioxidant power) methods. The antioxidant activity of the studied compounds against lipid peroxidation was also measured. The highest antioxidant activity was demonstrated by compound 3c. It is obvious that the presence of a hydroxyl group in the structure is essential for the antioxidant properties and should be taken into consideration in further design of structures with potential antioxidant properties.

In this study, one novel N-pyrrolyl carboxylic acid (3), the corresponding N-pyrrolyl hydrazide (5), and four new hydrazide-hydrazones (5a-d) bearing electron donating moieties were designed, synthesized, and fully elucidated by 1H NMR, FT-IR, and HRMS. The hydrazide-hydrazones were produced in five steps, which were optimized by applying microwave heating. The microwave-assisted synthesis significantly decreased the reaction times and increased the yields of the title molecules. In addition, all novel compounds were assessed for their radical scavenging properties by employing DPPH and ABTS assays. The most promising agent was obtained after condensation of the title hydrazide (5) with a 3,5-dimetoxy-4-hydroxybenzaldehyde (5d). The latter compound showed better antioxidant properties than Trolox (6-hydroxy-2,5,7,8-tetramethylchroman-2-carboxylic acid) and could serve as a prominent lead structure for future optimization as an antioxidant agent. A possible binding conformation of 5d in the active site of NADPH oxidase was also identified through molecular docking simulations. Analysis of the major interactions showed the importance of the hydroxyl moiety for the antioxidant activity. Finally, the virtual calculations of the ADME properties of the synthesized compounds displayed good drug-like properties. Overall, an optimized synthetic protocol through MW irradiation was employed. The newly synthesized ethyl (E)-5-(4-bromophenyl)-1-(1-(2-(4-hydroxy-3,5-dimethoxybenzylidene)hydrazineyl)-3-(1H-indol-3-yl)-1-oxopropan-2-yl)-2-methyl-1H-pyrrole-3-carboxylate (5d) was found to possess the most prominent radical-scavenging capacity, which identifies it as a promising lead compound for the development of novel antioxidants.

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