Hemiindigoids comprise a range of natural and synthetic
scaffolds
that share the same aromatic hydrocarbon backbone as well as promising
biological and optical properties. The encouraging therapeutic potential
of these scaffolds has been unraveled by many studies over the past
years and uncovered representants with inspiring pharmacophoric features
such as the acetylcholinesterase inhibitor donezepil and the tubulin
polymerization inhibitor indanocine. In this review, we summarize
the last advances in the medicinal potential of hemiindigoids, with
a special attention to molecular design, structure–activity
relationship, ligand-target interactions, and mechanistic explanations
covering their effects. As their strong fluorogenic potential and
photoswitch behavior recently started to be highlighted and explored
in biology, giving rise to the development of novel fluorescent probes
and photopharmacological agents, we also discuss these properties
in a medicinal chemistry perspective.