Mini Reviews in Medicinal Chemistry - Volume 25, Issue 14, 2025

Medical diagnostics, environmental monitoring, and food safety are key domains being transformed by the ongoing revolution in optical biosensors. These light sensors are highly sensitive and specific for detecting specific biological interactions, allowing for real-time, label-free detection. Biorecognition elements (such as enzymes, antibodies, or nucleic acids), following interaction with the target analyte, generate optical signals based on the same key principles as optical biosensors. Surface plasmon resonance (SPR), fluorescence-based sensors, and fiber optic sensors offer a wide range of biosensors capable of detecting a broad spectrum of biological and chemical agents at trace concentrations. Diagnostic capability has become efficient and rapid with advances in nanotechnology and microelectronics, particularly in nanopores. Monitoring of cardiovascular health using wearable optical biosensors, such as photoplethysmography (PPG), is a non-invasive method. It has also been recently improved to better track heart rate and blood pressure, as well as evaluate mental and vascular health. Wearable optical biosensors support technologies, such as continuous monitoring and early detection of anomalies, which help in personalized healthcare. Optical biosensors are particularly suitable for detecting pathogens, biomarkers, and pollutants in clinical settings, as well as for environmental monitoring and food safety assessments. These applications range from biopharmaceuticals to biotechnology and personalized care, which are used to monitor diseases, discover drugs, and detect pathogens. Despite progress, matrix interference with the sample matrix, sensor stability, and miniaturization remain challenges to be overcome. However, with future progress in materials science, nanotechnology, and increased integration with the Internet of Things (IoT), the potential for optical biosensors will continue to rise as portable, cost-effective, real-time data-analyzing diagnostic tools that expand accessibility to those in underserved regions. Developed using optical and electrochemical approaches, the biosensors reviewed in this article are discussed in terms of their principles, types, applications, and prospects, including their roles in healthcare and environmental sectors.

Diabetes mellitus, a serious metabolic health condition and one of the most common diseases around the globe, primarily arises due to elevated blood sugar levels and causes multiple metabolic abnormalities. Nowadays, it has become the biggest challenge for the scientific community. Serious fatal health problems, such as neuropathy, retinopathy, and nephropathy, are the result of mismanagement of this illness, which significantly lowers the quality of life. α-glucosidase is an enzyme in the small intestine that causes the breakdown of complex polysaccharide units into glucose units, i.e., smaller units that then enter the bloodstream and result in hyperglycaemic conditions. To solve this issue, the inhibitors of α-glucosidase must be developed immediately to manage and treat diabetes in patients. This literature survey highlights the importance of triazoles containing different heterocyclic rings, such as furan, benzyl, benzimidazole, thiazole, pyrrole, coumarin, indole, xanthone, etc., which have shown promising antidiabetic activity against α-glucosidase. The parameters, such as kinetic investigations, binding interactions, IC50 value, structure-activity relationship, and molecular docking studies of the most potent compound, are covered in this review, which provides an overview of enzyme inhibitory activity. This review also includes the patents on α-glucosidase with triazole rings, demonstrating their effectiveness against α-glucosidase.

Hydrazone-containing compounds are a diverse group of bioactive compounds known for their unique chemical features and diverse biological activities. Natural hydrazone derivatives have been identified from various natural sources, including bacteria, plants, fungi, and marine organisms. This work provides a comprehensive review of published works on natural hydrazone derivatives, including their sources, structural features, and biological activity in the period from 1967 to March 2025. In this work, 72 compounds were reviewed, along with 75 references being cited. The reported findings in this work highlight the therapeutic potential of these compounds in pharmaceutical research and drug discovery.

After cisplatin discovery in anticancer treatment, many metals have been studied as potential antitumor agents, especially group IXB elements, such as rhodium, iridium, palladium, and their complexes. The design of polymetallic complexes containing different metal centers with diverse pharmacological characteristics has raised considerable interest in the field of drug development research. This approach aims to exploit the synergistic effect of distinct metal cations, which could contribute to enhancing biological activity. The basic rationale is that the combination of two or more metal ions with the same or different cytotoxic profiles and modes of action may significantly modify the anticancer potential of the resulting complexes, thus enlarging the biological targets and improving the biodistribution properties compared to mononuclear fragments. Among the reported multinuclear anticancer complexes, rhodium-based compounds have attracted considerable attention despite their relatively limited history. The current article presents the results obtained in the field of rhodium complexes, highlighting the recent advances of polynuclear homometallic rhodium compounds as promising antineoplastic candidates. While widespread studies have focused on mononuclear rhodium complexes, the potential of polynuclear Rh-based compounds with structural and functional diversity remains rather understudied. This low interest is most likely due to the typical kinetic inertness and chemical stability of most rhodium complex compounds. These complexes have garnered considerable attention due to their enhanced cytotoxic effects, intracellular distribution, and selectivity, thereby holding promising prospects for the further development of multifunctional drug candidates with desired activity. Recent developments of polynuclear rhodium-based antitumor agents have been summarized in the current review.