Synthesis, utility and medicinal importance of 1,2-& 1,4-dihydropyridines

Dihydropyridine (DHP) is among the most beneficial scaffolds that have revolutionised pharmaceutical research with unprecedented biological properties. Over the years, metamorphosis of easily accessible 1,2- and 1,4-dihydropyridine (1,4-DHP) intermediates by synthetic chemists has generated several drug molecules and natural products such as alkaloids. The 1,4-dihydropyridine (1,4-DHP) moiety itself is the main fulcrum of several approved drugs. The present review aims to collate the literature of 1,2- and the 1,4-DHPs relevant to synthetic and medicinal chemists. We will describe various methodologies that have been used for the synthesis of this class of compounds, including the strategies which can furnish enantiopure DHPs, either by asymmetric synthesis or by chiral resolution. We will also elaborate the significance of DHPs towards the synthesis of natural products of medicinal merit.