Chemistry of Cyclic Imides: An Overview on the Past, Present and Future

Cyclic imides are commonly encountered structural motifs in natural and synthetic molecules with remarkable pharmacological properties. They are also used widely for further functionalization through various chemical transformations. Currently, renewed focus has been devoted worldwide on this important class of compounds for their potential new applications especially in the area of medicinal / pharmaceutical chemistry as well as in drug discovery. Consequently, their syntheses have attracted considerable interest. Various innovative methodologies have recently been developed in order to access and functionalize this class of compounds. For example, the combination of classical as well as modern reactions allowed synthetic chemists to perform the straight forward and direct synthesis of diversity based library of compounds, often in 1-2 steps. The present report will cover the relevant and recent advances in the field of occurrences, synthesis and chemical reactions of cyclic imides mainly from 1980 to the end of 2015.