Phthalazin-1(2H)-one as a remarkable scaffold in drug discovery.

Phthalazinones are an important kind of nitrogen atom containing heterocyclic compounds due to their synthetic and pharmacological versatility. This fused heterocycle system represents a common structural feature for many bioactive compounds showing a variety of pharmacological activities such as anticancer, anti-diabetic, anti-asthmatic, antihistaminic, antihypertensive, antithrombotic, anti-inflammatory, analgesic, antidepressant or antimicrobial agents, which makes it an attractive scaffold for the design and development of new drugs. This review summarizes detailed and updated information, described in recent non-patent literature, about the most relevant pharmacological properties of phthalazinone derivatives, highlighting the application of this potent pharmacophore in drug discovery.