Chemistry of 2-Aminoimidazoles

The 2-aminoimidazole (2-AI) ring is used widely as a building block in the design of new biologically active compounds, because of its good physico-chemical properties and potent activity in various test systems. Many marine alkaloids contain the 2-AI moiety. As a consequence, many synthetic routes have been developed in the total synthesis of natural compounds. The review covers all synthetic procedures for construction of 2-AI in particular and its analogs up to December 2014.