The purpose of this article is to provide an overview of the latest applications of organophosphorus compounds (OPs) that exhibit biological activity.

Five-membered 1,2,4-oxadiazole heterocyclic ring has received considerable attention because of its unique bioisosteric properties and an unusually wide spectrum of biological activities. Thus, it is a perfect framework for the novel drug development. After a century since the 1,2,4-oxadiazole have been discovered, the uncommon potential attracted medicinal chemists’ attention, leading to the discovery of a few presently accessible drugs containing 1,2,4-oxadiazole unit. It is worth noting that the interest in a 1,2,4-oxadiazoles’ biological application has been doubled in the last fifteen years. Herein, after a concise historical introduction, we present a comprehensive overview of the recent achievements in the synthesis of 1,2,4-oxadiazole-based compounds and the major advances in their biological applications in the period of the last five years as well as brief remarks on prospects for further development.

Histone deacetylases (HDACs) are a large family of epigenetic metalloenzymes that are involved in gene transcription and regulation, cell proliferation, differentiation, migration, and death, as well as angiogenesis. Particularly, disorders of the HDACs expression are linked to the development of many types of cancer and neurodegenerative diseases, making them interesting molecular targets for the design of new efficient drugs and imaging agents that facilitate an early diagnosis of these diseases. Thus, their selective inhibition or degradation are the basis for new therapies. This is supported by the fact that many HDAC inhibitors (HDACis) are currently under clinical research for cancer therapy, and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has already approved some of them. In this review, we will focus on the recent advances and latest discoveries of innovative strategies in the development and applications of compounds that demonstrate inhibitory or degradation activity against HDACs, such as PROteolysis-TArgeting Chimeras (PROTACs), tumor-targeted HDACis (e.g., folate conjugates and nanoparticles), and imaging probes (positron emission tomography (PET) and fluorescent ligands).

In the present work, we report convenient methods for the synthesis and biological evaluation of phosphate tricyclic coumarin derivatives as potential steroid sulfatase inhibitors. The described synthesis includes the straightforward preparation of 7-hydroxy-2,3-dihydro-1H-cyclopenta[c]chromen-4-one, 3-hydroxy-7,8,9,10-tetrahydro-6H-benzo[c]chromen-6-one and 3-hydroxy-8,9,10,11-tetrahydro-7H-cyclohepta[c]chromen-6-one modified with various phosphate moieties. The inhibitory effects of the synthesized compounds were tested on STS isolated from human placenta as well as the MCF-7, MDA-MB-231 and MDA-MB-435S cancer cell lines. Most of the new STS inhibitors possessed IC₅₀ values between 21 to 159 μM. In the course of our investigation, the largest inhibitory effects in the STS enzyme assays were observed for the three compounds 9p, 9r and 9s, with IC₅₀ values of 36.4, 37.8 and 21.5 μM, respectively (IC₅₀ value of 1.0 μM for the 665-COUMATE used as a reference). The compound 9r, exhibited the highest potency against MCF-7, an estrogen receptor positive (ER+) cell line, with a GI₅₀ value of 24.7 μM. The structure-activity relationships of the synthesized coumarin derivatives with the STS enzyme are discussed.