Chemistry and biological activities of thioacridines/thioacridones

Over the last few decades, numerous articles dealing with acridine have been reported providing solid background for drug design. Interest in thioacridine/thioacridone derivatives is demonstrated by their use against varied pharmacological activities. The article summarizes the synthetic routes of thioacridine/thioacridone and wide range of their uses including receptor interaction, enzyme inhibition, anti-proliferative effects, anti-microbial activity, etc. The first synthetic route for thioacridone includes the use of acridone with sulfur at high temperature. In order to improve the yield and the laborious reaction conditions other new synthetic methodologies were developed. It has been multi substituted with variety of functional groups which have a substantial impact on their biological activities. The diversity in the biological response has prompted researchers to explore this skeleton to its potential against several activities. Our aim is to review the most promising therapeutic developments dealing with thioacridine/thioacridone derivatives by pinpointing the new trends and the promising therapeutic directions.