Synthesis and biological activity of pyrrolo[3,4-c]pyridine derivatives

Pyrrolo[3,4-c]pyridine is one of the six structural isomers of the bicyclic ring system containing pyrrole moiety condensed with a pyridine nucleus. This review presents most of the literature data about synthetic pyrrolo[3,4-c]pyridine derivatives and their biological activity. S. Gabriel and J. Colman [4] discovered this isomer for the first time and named it “merimine” [Fig. 3]. The main goal of this study is the presentation of various methods for the preparation of pyrrolo[3,4-c]pyridine derivatives. Compounds containing the pyrrolo[3,4-c]pyridine scaffold can be synthesized from different substrates, but the syntheses may be classified into two main categories: annulation of pyrrole ring onto pyridine derivatives or annulation of pyridine ring onto pyrrole derivatives. Biological investigations have shown that pyrrolo[3,4-c]pyridine derivatives have a wide spectrum of actions. Most of them have been studied as analgesic and sedative agents [35–40]. Antitumor [19, 42, 45], antiviral [27], antituberculostatic [43] activities have been found. Pyrrolo[3,4-c]pyridine derivatives can also be used in the treatment of nervous [20, 41] and immune [19, 42] system diseases