Dual Acting Isatin-heterocyclic Hybrids: Recent Highlights as Promising Pharmacological Agents

Background: For the development of suitable lead molecules to different diseases is a highly challenging task for medicinal chemists. Nowadays, hybrid pharmacophore concept has developed as a useful structural modification tool in the drug design of new drug candidates for different diseases. Hybrid pharmacophore approach consists of combination of two or more pharmacophoric moieties from different biologically active compounds with complementary functions or different mechanisms of action into a single molecule. This often results in synergistic activity or enhanced drug efficacy. Objective: To develop the suitable leads for different diseases there will be a lot of scope to study the substitution of heterocyclic moieties on the different positions of isatin ring. The broad and potent activities of the isatin and their derivatives have been established them as pharmacologically significant scaffolds. In this review, an attempt has been made with specifically emphasizing the hybridization of Isatin with different derivatives of heterocyclic compounds on the different positions of the isatin ring (aryl ring, isatin nitrogen and C-2/C-3 carbonyl moieties). Conclusion: This review highlighted the recent advances of dual acting isatin-heterocyclic hybrids presenting various pharmacological activities viz., anticancer, antitubercular, anti-inflammatory and antimicrobial.