Recent developments in synthetic strategies and pharmacological outcomes of synthetic xanthine oxidase inhibitors: A comprehensive review

Xanthine oxidase is an important enzyme in purine metabolism that converts hypoxanthine to xanthine and subsequently xanthine to uric acid. Its elevated levels result in an abnormal accumulation of uric acid that results in gout and other pathological conditions, which makes it a prime target for the management of gout. Considering this, numerous reports have been published by the various research groups across the globe focusing on the development of effective xanthine oxidase inhibitors. On that ground, numerous review articles are also available describing the pharmacological outputs of these reports, but a composition highlighting the synthetic strategies used in these research works is still missing. This review will focus on various synthetic strategies adopted by different research groups in developing xanthine oxidase inhibitors with their pharmacological outcomes, along with structure activity relationships. This review will help researchers and pharmaceutical chemists in the design and development of new xanthine oxidase inhibitor leads that are highly efficient and have fewer side effects than existing ones.