Chapter 17 - Privileged scaffolds in anti-diabetic drug discovery

Abstract

Diabetes, especially type 2 diabetes, is a rapidly increasing complex metabolic disease with multiple pathogenesis. In the field of antidiabetic drug discovery, privileged scaffolds are widely used to provide drug-like molecules or multi-target drugs based on their excellent likeness to drugs and the promiscuous nature of privileged scaffolds. This chapter reviews the applications of frequently occurring privileged scaffolds in antidiabetic agents, including thiazolidinedione, biphenyl scaffolds, spirocycle, chalcone, chromone, pyrazolone, benzisoxazole, and quinoxalinone scaffolds. We first present an overview of these privileged scaffolds. Then, we describe the different pharmacologic actions of privileged scaffolds based on different antidiabetic targets, focusing on typical compounds and their process of drug discovery. We hope that this will promote the development of privileged scaffolds in antidiabetic drug discovery and provide inspiration to medicinal chemists.