Sulfone and sulfoxide-containing pharmaceuticals: targets, pharmacological properties and SAR studies

Sulfone/sulfoxide functional groups are extremely important functional groups widely utilized in the design of biologically active drugs. Pharmaceuticals incorporating sulfone/sulfoxide have shown a broad spectrum of pharmacological properties, including anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial, anticancer activities, etc. They have also exhibited excellent metabolic stability and pharmacokinetic properties. Over the past decades, regulatory agencies, including the FDA, have approved numerous drugs featuring these functional groups for treating various clinical conditions, and the incorporation of sulfone/sulfoxide groups continues to attract significant attention from medicinal chemists. This review aims to provide a comprehensive overview of 33 approved drugs containing sulfone/sulfoxide moieties, focusing on their targets, pharmacokinetic properties, and structure-activity relationship studies. Specifically, the SAR is validated by comparing the biological activity and pharmacokinetics of each drug with its structurally analogous compounds lacking sulfone/sulfoxide groups, offering actionable evidence for the functional roles of these moieties.