functionalized 2-oxo-2,5-dihydrofurans: a promising pharmacophore for biological applications

Functionalized 2-oxo-2,5-dihydrofurans are an important privileged abundant structural motif, found in a wide range of biologically active natural products isolated from many diverse sources. moreover, 2-oxo-2,5-dihydrofuran derivatives are a large family of heterocycles that include both natural and synthetic compounds with diverse biological activities and are used in medicine, pharmacology, agriculture, etc. there has been a continuous interest in the development of efficient and convenient methods for the selective preparation of these heterocycles and in their synthetic and biological applications. the studies in these fields have been summarized and discussed in several excellent reviews. in this review, the different synthetic methodologies focused on the 2-oxo-2,5-dihydrofuran ring formation (with different substituents), along with selected examples of compounds with relevant biological activities of these promising pharmaceutical entities, are presented. this review examines publications on the isolation from various raw materials and synthesis of biologically active derivatives of 2-oxo-2,5-dihydrofurans over the last two decades.