A review on Hydroxamic Acids: Widespectrum Chemotherapeutic Agents

Recent developments in drug discovery have highlighted the ability of hydroxamic acids to form complexes with various metal ions, in particular iron, zinc, magnesium and calcium, and this imparts them with a number of unique biological and pharmacological properties. This review provides information on the most significant developments of the hydroxamate compounds in the medicinal area with a focus on Suberoylanilide hydroxamic acid (SAHA) and its derivatives with antibacterial, antifungal, antiviral, antimalarial, antitubercular and anticancer effect and their possible molecular mechanisms. One of the latest favorable developments has been on developing SAHA and its hybrids as potent anti-tuberculosis drugs. Moreover, the combination of the hydroxamic acids with other pharmacophore groups in one molecule can lead to the creation of a huge number of new compounds with promising properties as a multifunctional drug. Also, within the last decade, active research has focused to create these compounds into a class of new antiviral drugs designed to treat influenza, hepatitis C, and other viral infections. Thus, both linear hydroxamic acids and cyclic acids having the uniqueness of the set of bioactive properties, have been compiled here and could be looked forward as the basis for the development of effective drugs and forpilot scale productions through nitrile and amides via chemical and biological transformations using amidase and acyltransferase enzymes. Such synthesis of medicinally significant compounds from amide containing waste derived feedstocks using microbial agents is also a key factor for stimulating bioeconomy.