Recent developments of small molecules with anti-inflammatory activities for the treatment of acute lung injury

Acute Lung Injury (ALI) can be caused by various diseases or conditions such as sepsis, pneumonia, trauma, shock, and inhalation of toxic gases. Many efforts have been made to identify new agents capable of treating ALI, and many compounds have shown interesting activities in the treatment of ALI. However, most of these compounds have only been tested for their clinical significance using in vitro and in vivo animal models. In this review, the developments in the design and structural modification of effective active agents for the treatment of ALI is summarized. Firstly, the application of α, β-unsaturated carbonyl moieties as an importantly superior framework in the development of natural product-derived anti-ALI agents is described. As well, the biological activities of the hybrid derivatives from natural products are discussed. Secondly, the potential of synthetic small molecule active compounds in the treatment of ALI is demonstrated. In addition, the structure activity relationship (SAR) and possible mechanisms of action in new chemical molecular entities were investigated. This present mini-review will be useful to scientists in research fields of medicinal chemistry, organic synthesis, and also various biological applications particularly for the development of novel anti-ALI agents.