:
Epilepsy is a chronic neurological disorder, characterized by predisposition of unprovoked
seizures affecting the neurobiological, psychological, cognitive, economic, and social well-being
of patient. As per the 2019 report by World Health Organization, it affects nearly 80% of the
population which comes from the middle to low-income countries. It has been suggested that
70% of such cases can be treated effectively if properly diagnosed. It is one of the most common
neurological diseases affecting 50 million people globally. Most of the antiepileptic drugs used
in clinical practice are only 60-80% effective in controlling the disease. These drugs suffer from
serious drawbacks of non-selectivity and toxicity that limit their clinical usefulness. Hence, there
is a need to search for the safe, potent, and effective anti-epileptic drugs. One of the emerging
strategies to discover and develop selective and non-toxic anticonvulsant molecule focuses on
design of non-nitrogen heterocyclic compounds (NNHC). Drugs such as valproic acid,
gabapentin, viagabatrin, fluorofelbamate, tiagabine, progabide, pregabalin, gamma amino butyric
acid (GABA) etc., do not contain a nitrogen heterocyclic ring but are as effective anticonvulsants
as conventional heterocyclic nitrogen compounds. This review covers the various classes of
NNHC which have been developed in the recent past as anticonvulsants along with their
chemistry, percentage yield, structure activity relationship and biological activity. The most
potent compound in each series has been identified for the comparative studies, for further
structural modification and to improve the pharmacokinetic profile. Various optimized synthetic
pathways and diverse functionalities other than nitrogen-containing rings discussed in the article
may help medicinal chemists to design safe and effective anticonvulsant drugs in near future.