Benzothiazole-Based Anti-Alzheimer's Agents: A Comprehensive Review of Developments from 2015 to 2025

Alzheimer's disease (AD), a progressive neurodegenerative disorder, remains one of the greatest medical challenges because of its multifactorial nature. In recent years (2015-2025), benzothiazole-based compounds have gained increasing attention as promising scaffolds for the development of anti-Alzheimer agents. This comprehensive review focuses on the biological evaluation and structure-activity relationship (SAR) trends of benzothiazole derivatives targeting key enzymes and pathways implicated in AD. These include acetylcholinesterase (AChE), butyrylcholinesterase (BuChE), β-secretase (BACE1), monoamine oxidase A and B (MAO-A, MAO-B), receptor-interacting protein kinase 1 (RIPK1), human DYRK1A (hDYRK1A), and human CLK1 (hCLK1). Benzothiazole hybrids with diverse heterocyclic frameworks have been explored, and SAR analysis suggests that the presence of electron-withdrawing substituents in the molecules significantly enhances their potency against Alzheimer's targets. Many of these compounds demonstrate strong in vitro activity, multitarget inhibition potential, and favorable interaction profiles in docking studies, highlighting their relevance as multitarget-directed ligands. This review consolidates data from the last decade to provide insights into the structural features contributing to anti-Alzheimer's activity and offers directions for the rational design of more selective, efficacious, and brain-penetrant benzothiazole derivatives. Future research should focus on optimizing pharmacokinetic properties, improving blood-brain barrier permeability, and validating in vivo efficacy of the designed molecules. Overall, benzothiazole remains a valuable and versatile scaffold in the ongoing search for effective therapeutics for AD.