Recent Progress in Accessing Multi-functionalized Caged Hydrocarbons: En Route to Highly-Functionalized Saturated (Bio)isosteres of Benzene Ring

Abstract

Recently, many saturated bioisosteres of benzene ring have been developed, and their application in drug development has been evaluated. Most of these are caged hydrocarbons, which have rigid skeletons and three-dimensional spaces. Recent efforts to synthesize these caged hydrocarbons have enabled access to multi-functionalized congeners that are expected to be (bio)isosteres of multi-functionalized benzenes. This review article summarizes recently reported methods to obtain multi-functionalized (typically more than disubstituted) caged hydrocarbons.