Recent Advances in Tetrazole Derivatives as Potential Antiviral Agents

Abstract

Viruses use the host cell’s biochemical machinery for replication and survival; and also undergo mutations to evade the immune response and achieve better transmission. These features make it challenging to develop selective drugs to kill viruses only and not the host cells. New and effective pharmaceutical agents are required to overcome this challenge. Tetrazole moiety, as a bio-isostere of carboxylic acid/amide group, has been extensively used as a potent pharmacophore in several bioactivities. Intrigued by the necessity of finding new antiviral compounds and tendency of tetrazole scaffolds to render various bioactivity profiles, this review article comprising literature reports of tetrazole-based synthetic compounds with promising antiviral activity is presented. This review comprises significant literature reports from the scientific databases published during the past four decades. It is found that tetrazole based molecules are promising endeavor for the development of potential agents against influenza virus, HIV, HCV and other viruses.