The use of spirocyclic scaffolds in drug discovery

Owing to their inherent three-dimensionality and structural novelty, spiro scaffolds have been increasingly utilized in drug discovery. In this brief review, we highlight selected examples from the primary medicinal chemistry literature during the last three years to demonstrate the versatility of spiro scaffolds. With recent progress in synthetic methods providing access to spiro building blocks, spiro scaffolds are likely to be used more frequently in drug discovery. (C) 2014 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.