The review summarizes the data published over the last 10 – 15 years concerning the key groups of purine derivatives with antituberculosis activity. The structures of purines containing heteroatoms (S, O, N), fragments of heterocycles, amino acids and peptides, in the 6-position, as well as of purine nucleosides are presented. The possible targets for the action of such compounds and structure – activity relationship are discussed. Particular attention is paid to the most active compounds, which are of considerable interest as a basis for the development of efficient antituberculosis drugs. The bibliography includes 99 references.

The design of highly selective low-toxic, low-molecular weight agents for boron delivery to tumour cells is of decisive importance for the development of boron neutron capture therapy (BNCT), a modern efficient combined method for cancer treatment. In this work, we developed a simple method for the preparation of new closo- and nido-carborane-containing folic acid bis-amides containing 18–20 boron atoms per molecule. Folic acid derivatives containing nido-carborane residues were characterised by high water solubility, low cytotoxicity, and demonstrated a good ability to deliver boron to tumour cells in in vitro experiments (up to 7.0 µg B/10⁶ cells in the case of U87 MG human glioblastoma cells). The results obtained demonstrate the high potential of folic acid–nido-carborane conjugates as boron delivery agents to tumour cells for application in BNCT.

(S)-Asparagine and (S)-glutamine ortho-carboranyl derivatives with free amino and carboxy groups in the α-position were synthesized. By an example of N^γ-(1,2-dicarba-closo-dodecarboran-3-yl)-(S)-glutamine it was demonstrated that the developed synthetic approach carboranyl derivatives of amino acids allowed the preparation of optically pure isomers.