The pinene scaffold: its occurrence, chemistry, synthetic utility, and pharmacological importance

Plant-based secondary metabolites have been a major source of drug discovery and inspiration for new generations of drugs. Plants offer a wide variety of compound classes, including alkaloids, terpenes, flavonoids, and glycosides, with different molecular architectures (fused bridgehead, bi- and polycyclic, spirocyclic, polycyclic, and acyclic). The diversity, abundance, and accessibility of plant metabolites make plants an attractive source of human and animal medicine. Even though the pinene scaffold is abundant in nature and has historical use in traditional medicine, pinene and pinene-derived compounds have not been comprehensively studied for medicinal applications. This review provides insight into the utility of the pinene scaffold as a crucial building block of important natural and synthetic products and as a chiral reagent in the asymmetric synthesis of important compounds.