Tubercidin and Related Analogues: An Inspiration for 50 years in Drug Discovery

Tubercidin represents one of the most widely recognized nucleosides isolated from natural sources. The major structural difference between adenosine and tubercidin is that one of the nitrogen atom is replaced by a C-H group in the heterocyclic base. Tubercidin was first introduced into the clinic over 40 years ago. Since then, there has been a steady interest and this review discusses the various approaches related to the synthesis of tubercidin and its derivatives. The key aspects related to isolation, structure-activity relationships and biological activity are also discussed.