The Fundamental Role of Oxime and Oxime Ether Moieties in Improving the Physicochemical and Anticancer Properties of Structurally Diverse Scaffolds

Abstract

The present review explores the critical role of oxime and oxime ether moieties in enhancing the physicochemical and anticancer properties of structurally diverse molecular frameworks. Specific examples are carefully selected to illustrate the distinct contributions of these functional groups to general strategies for molecular design, modulation of biological activities, computational modeling, and structure–activity relationship studies. An extensive literature search was conducted across three databases, including PubMed, Google Scholar, and Scifinder, enabling us to create one of the most comprehensive overviews of how oximes and oxime ethers impact antitumor activities within a wide range of structural frameworks. This search focused on various combinations of keywords or their synonyms, related to the anticancer activity of oximes and oxime ethers, structure–activity relationships, mechanism of action, as well as molecular dynamics and docking studies. Each article was evaluated based on its scientific merit and the depth of the study, resulting in 268 cited references and more than 336 illustrative chemical structures carefully selected to support this analysis. As many previous reviews focus on one subclass of this extensive family of compounds, this report represents one of the rare and fully comprehensive assessments of the anticancer potential of this group of molecules across diverse molecular scaffolds.

Editorial for the Special Issue “Advances in the Development of Anticancer Drugs”

“…Concluding this Special Issue, our research group [ 14 ], supported by around 268 cited references and over 336 carefully selected illustrative chemical structures, thoroughly explores the pivotal role of oxime and oxime ether moieties in augmenting the physicochemical and anticancer properties of diverse molecular frameworks. The analysis encompasses the significant contributions of these functional groups in the development of strategies for anticancer molecular design, modulation of biological activities, computational modeling, and structure–activity relationship studies.…”