Benzopyran-4-one is an ideal pharmacophore for lead optimization in antidiabetic drug discovery

Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a metabolic disorder associated with retinopathy, nephropathy, cardiomyopathy, peripheral neuropathy and autonomic neuropathies leading to gastrointestinal, genitourinary, cardiovascular complications and sexual dysfunction. The present available antidiabetic agents are not interferingin the modulation of these complications. Benzopyran-4-one is the basic moiety present in naturally occurring flavonoids. Number of flavonoids hasbeen found to be antidiabetic and many of themmodulate diabetes related complications by acting on newer targets. Hence, an attempt was made to review the possibilities of modulating benzopyran-4-one scaffold for lead optimization in antidiabetic drug discovery.