Benzothiazole moieties and their derivatives as antimicrobial and antiviral agents: A mini-review

Heterocyclic chemistry has provided an inexhaustible source of pharmaceutical molecules. Heterocyclic compounds such as benzothiazole moieties and its derivatives area substantial class of compounds in pharmaceutical chemistry and exhibited therapeutic capabilities, such as antitumor, anticancer, antioxidant, antidiabetic, antiviral, antimicrobial, antimalarial, anthelmintic and other activities. Besides, some antibiotics such as penicillin and cephalosporin have heterocyclic moiety. The growing prevalence of multi-drug resistant pathogens represents serious global concern,which requires the development of new antimicrobial drugs. Moreover, the emergence of pandemic SARSCoV-2 causing Covid-19 disease and all these health dilemmas urge the scientific community to examine the possible antimicrobial and antiviral capacities of some bioactive benzothiazole derivatives against these severe causative agents.This mini-review highlights some recent scientific literature on different benzothiazole molecules and their derivatives. It turns out that, there are numerous synthesized benzothiazole derivatives which exhibited different mode of actions against microorganisms or viruses and accordingly suggested them as an active candidate in the discovery of new antimicrobial or antiviral agents for clinical development. The recommended bioactive benzothiazole derivatives mentioned in the current study are mainly Schiff bases, azo dyes and metal complexes benzothiazole derivatives; the starting material for most of these derivatives are 2-aminobenzothiazole although careful pharmaceutical studies should be conducted to ensure the safety and efficacy of these bioactive synthesized molecules as an antimicrobial or antiviral drug in the future.