Benzimidazole: An emerging scaffold for analgesic and anti-inflammatory agents

Within the vast range of heterocycles, benzimidazole and its derivatives are found to be trendy structures employed for discovery of drugs in the field of pharmaceutical and medicinal chemistry. The unique structural features of benzimidazole and a wide range of biological activities of its derivatives made it privileged structure in drug discovery. Recently, benzimidazole scaffold has emerged as a pharmacophore of choice for designing analgesic and anti-inflammatory agents active on different clinically approved targets. To pave the way for future research, there is a need to collect the latest information in this promising area. In the present review we have collated published reports on this versatile core to provide an insight so that its full therapeutic potential can be utilized for the treatment of pain and inflammation. (C) 2014 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.