Exploring the therapeutic versatility and multitarget pharmacological potential of acyl hydrazone-hydrazide scaffolds

Acyl hydrazones and hydrazides are of great interest in medicinal chemistry because their pharmacophoric group (-CO-NH-N=CH-) shows keto-enol tautomerism and E/Z isomerism, which gives them dynamic stereochemical properties. They are of particular value to medicinal chemists due to their ability to undergo multiple weak non-covalent interactions and metal chelation. This review systematically studied the various biological activities of acyl hydrazone and hydrazide derivatives, which are therapeutically important compounds. Although several synthetic methods, including microwave-assisted, ultrasound-assisted, aqueous-phase, and enzyme-catalyzedare mentioned, the main emphasis is to gain insight into the pharmacological significance and bioactivity of these derivatives. It also found that the structure-activity relationships (SAR) influence their pharmacologic outcomes. Improved synthetic accessibility, combined with their potential to interact with multiple biological targets, highlights the value of acyl hydrazones as versatile candidates in therapeutic research. These features collectively support their continued investigation as important molecular frameworks for the design and development of novel bioactive agents.