Abstract
The present study provides an overview of the chemistry and biological importance
of the cationic chalcophene derivatives (furans, thiophenes and selenophenes). The
summarized literature survey includes synthetic methods, reactivity and biological activities
of aryl/hetarylchalcophenes that have been reported mainly from 2001 to 2019 focusing
on monochalcophenes. A discussion demonstrating the proposed mechanisms of some
interesting synthetic routes and linking structure features to biological activities is presented.
These classes of compounds including cationic chalcophenes possess antiproliferative,
antimicrobial and antiprotozoal activities. This review highlights recent advances
for arylchalcophene derivatives and may contribute to the design and structure optimization
of new chalcophene derivatives in the future.