Pharmacological significance of Oxadiazole scaffold

Heterocycles come under an important branch of organic chemistry that contains at least one atom other than carbon as a part of ring system. The most common hetero atoms that are widely used are nitrogen, oxygen and sulphur. In synthetic organic chemistry, synthesis of heterocyclic compound is of immense interest due to its therapeutic applications and their existence in several natural products like vitamins, hormones, antibiotics and alkaloids. The oxadiazole nucleus is one of the most significant and well known heterocyclic compounds due to its broad range of pharmacological and therapeutic activities like anti-depressant, anticonvulsant, anti-proliferate, anti-fungal, antiinflammatory, anti-cancer, anti-HIV, insecticidal, antimiotic, herbicidal, hypoglycemic and muscle relaxant etc. The wide and potent activities of oxadiazole and their derivatives have established them as pharmacologically significant scaffolds. The basic heterocyclic rings present in the several medicinal agents are 1,2,3-oxadiazole, 1,2,4- oxadiazole, 1,2,5- oxadiazole and 1, 3, 4- oxadiazole. Research has focused on oxadiazole and their derivatives to prove the pharmacological importance of heterocyclic nucleus. The present review will summarize the pharmacological activities reported for oxadiazole derivatives.