Hydrazones and their derivatives are very important compounds in medicinal chemistry due to their reported biological activity for the treatment of several diseases, like Alzheimer’s, cancer, inflammation, and leishmaniasis. However, most of the investigations on hydrazones available in literature today are directed to the synthesis of these molecules with little discussion available on their biological activities. With the purpose of bringing lights into this issue, we performed a revision of the literature and wrote this review based on some of the most current research reports of hydrazones and derivatives, making it clear that the synthesis of these molecules can lead to new drug prototypes. Our goal is to encourage more studies focused on the synthesis and evaluation of new hydrazones, as a contribution to the development of potential new drugs for the treatment of various diseases.

Experimental and theoretical ¹⁵N and ¹³C NMR data for the three nitrobenzaldehyde guanylhydrazones are reported. The theoretical data were obtained using sequential molecular dynamics/quantum mechanics methodology for the calculation of flexible molecules in a condensed phase, followed by the use of the GIAO/DFT method with the 6–311G** basis set. The experimental ¹⁵N chemical shifts for the guanylhydrazones are compared with the calculated shifts. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.