Advances in Synthetic Strategies and Medicinal Importance of Benzofurans: A Review

Out of the many heterocycles that exhibit pharmaceutical and therapeutic properties, benzofurans remain the most eye-catching to scientists ever since their discovery. From being present in natural products to synthetic analogs they show diverse biological properties which are used to treat various diseases. Interestingly, some of the benzofuran hybrids were docked against COVID-19 Main Protease and it showed appealing results. Apart from medicinal properties it also exhibits some non-drug applications. The structure activity relationship of benzofuran derivatives in many infections draws attention to the extent where drugs can be produced in a short time span which highlights their significance in medicinal chemistry. There are considerable reaction schemes to synthesize this moiety either simple one pot reactions or multistep. Here, we emphasize on the chemistry of benzofurans, synthesis and its derivatives in the recent years, some of which show notable anti-tumor, anti-fungal, anti-mycobacterial and anti-oxidant activities.