Quinoxaline Derivatives as Antiviral Agents: A Systematic Review.

BACKGROUND

In recent decades, several viruses have jumped from animals to humans, triggering sizable outbreaks. The current unprecedent outbreak SARS-COV-2 is prompting a search for new cost-effective therapies to combat this deadly pathogen. Suitably functionalized polysubstituted quinoxalines show very interesting biological properties (antiviral, anticancer, and antileishmanial), ensuring them a bright future in medicinal chemistry.

OBJECTIVES

Focusing on the promising development of new quinoxaline derivatives as antiviral drugs, this review forms part of our program on the anti-infectious activity of quinoxaline derivatives.

METHODS

Study compiles and discusses recently published studies concerning the therapeutic potential of the antiviral activity of quinoxaline derivatives, covering the literature between 2010 and 2020.

RESULTS

A final total of 20 studies included in this review.

CONCLUSIONS

This review points to a growing interest in the development of compounds bearing a quinoxaline moiety for antiviral treatment. This promising moiety with different molecular targets warrants further investigation, which may well yield even more encouraging results regarding this scaffold.