Recent Progress in the Isolation and Bioactivities of Carbazole Alkaloids

Objective/Background Carbazole derivatives have a tricyclic skeleton, consisting of a central pyrrole ring fused with two benzene rings. Carbazole derivatives are an important class of nitrogen-containing heterocyclic compounds that are widely found in nature and in synthetic source. These heterocycles possess a wide range of bioactivities and some of them have been marketed as drugs for the treatment of various diseases. Although some review articles on carbazole alkaloids have appreared in the literature, they are quite outdated. The current study offers a comprehensive review on the isolation and bioactivities of carbazole alkaloids within a decade. The article might be useful for chemists who work in alkaloid chemistry as well as pharmaceutical area. Methods ‘Carbazole alkaloids’ was the most useful keyword to search for literature data. References have been collected from various resources such as Google Scholar, SciFinder, and PubMed. More than 70 electronic publications were obtained from these resources. Results More than 230 carbazole alkaloids have been isolated and structurally elucidated from different sources. Carbazole alkaloids possess a wide range of bioactivities, such as antimicrobial, antiimflamatory, anticancer, neuroprotective properties activities. Conclusion In this review article, we have summarized 66 studies on isolation and bioactivities of carbazole alkaloids in the literature. More than 230 carbazole alkaloid compounds have been isolated and identified. In addition, the article also gives an overview on bioactivities of carbazole alkaloids.