Isatin, 1H-indole-2,3-dione, is a heterocyclic compound of significant importance in medicinal chemistry. It is a synthetically versatile molecule, a precursor for a large number of pharmacologically active compounds. Isatin and its derivatives have aroused great attention in recent years due to their wide variety of biological activities, relevant to application as insecticides and fungicides and in a broad range of drug therapies, including anticancer drugs, antibiotics and antidepressants. The purpose of this review is to provide an overview of the pharmacological activities of isatin and its synthetic and natural derivatives. Molecular modifications to tailor the properties of isatin and its derivatives are also discussed.

The interaction of native calf thymus DNA (CT-DNA) with isatin was studied at physiological pH by spectrophotometric, spectrofluorometric, competition experiment, circular dichroism, and viscometric techniques. No red shift and isobestic points are observed in UV absorption band of isatin. A strong fluorescence quenching reaction of DNA to isatin was observed, and the binding constants (Kf) of DNA with isatin and corresponding numbers of binding sites (n) were calculated at different temperatures. Thermodynamic parameters enthalpy change (ΔH) and entropy change (ΔS) were calculated to be +27.42 kJ mol⁻¹ and +201 J mol⁻¹ K⁻¹ according to Van't Hoff's equation, which indicated that the reaction is predominantly entropically driven. DNA viscosity and iodide quenching results suggest that isatin does not intercalate into the DNA base pairs. Circular dichroism spectra of CT-DNA indicated deep conformational changes in the DNA double helix. These results indicate that isatin interacts with CT-DNA via groove binding mode.

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Purpose: Cancer is an example of the most important growing diseases in human society and scientists are trying to treat it without considerable side effects on patient's health. Solid lipids are colloidal nanoparticles that were used in drug delivery due to their several advantages. Methods: In this work, surface modified targeted solid lipid nanoparticles (SLNs) were fabricated by nano-homogenizer using tripalmitin glyceride and stearic acid as lipid constituents. The size of nanoparticles and morphological evaluations were surveyed using particle size analyzer, scanning electron microscopy; Fourier transforms infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). Results: The particle size of 148.5 and appropriate polydispersity index were achieved for lipid nanoparticles with an entrapment efficiency of 86.1%. The FT-IR analysis confirmed the coupling of lysine to the free functional group of SLNs. DSC proved the conjugation of amino acid to the surface of carriers. The in vitro epirubicin (EPI) release test exhibited the further controlled release phenomenon for the lysine conjugated nanoparticles. The cytotoxicity assay showed lower IC50 of lysine conjugated SLNs of EPI on the investigated cell line. Conclusion: These studies showed that the fabricated targeted carrier has a very remarkable anticancer effect on breast cancer cell lines in comparison with pure drug.