Contemporary trends on the kinase inhibitors with special reference to quinoxaline derivatives

Nitrogen-containing heterocycles owing to their unique physicochemical properties and biological effects are always of paramount importance for the development of novel class of bioactive molecules or potential lead molecules. Nitrogen containing heterocycles have tremendous potential to be developed as bioactive molecules which could inspired medicinal chemists to devise novel and greener methodologies to access them. Quinoxaline is one such valuable and indispensable scaffold having plethora of biological activities. The chemical structure of quinoxaline comprises a fused benzene and pyrazine ring. The broad spectrum of pharmacological activities of quinoxaline includes "anticancer", "antimicrobial", "antitubercular", "antiviral", "antileprotic" and "hepatoprotective". The current review, encompasses the contemporary advancements in the role of kinase and various quinoxaline based small molecule kinase inhibitors reported between 2009 and 2024 with special emphasis on their emerging mechanisms of action. The current manuscript highlights some of the recent seminal literature reports pertaining to the structural modifications carried out on quinoxaline scaffold to develop a novel anticancer agent having kinase inhibitory activity.