Aurones: A Golden Resource for Active Compounds

Abstract

Deemed as poorly represented in nature, aurones have been often overlooked by researchers compared to other members of the flavonoid superfamily. However, over the past two decades, they have been reassessed by the scientific community, who are increasingly appreciating their ability to modulate several biological pathways. This review summarizes the recent literature on this class of compounds, which has been analyzed from both a chemical and a functional point of view. Original articles, reviews and editorials featured in Pubmed and Scifinder over the last twenty years have been taken into account to provide the readers with a view of the chemical strategies to obtain them, their functional properties, and their potential of technological use. The resulting comprehensive picture aims at raising the awareness of these natural derivatives as effective drug candidates, fostering the development of novel synthetic analogues.

A multifaceted review on aureusidin in planta distribution, (bio)synthesis, and bioactivities

“…AUR is a hydroxyaurone that is aurone-substituted by hydroxy groups at positions 4, 6, 3 0 , and 4 0 , respectively, which was first found in 1940 in Asteraceae, the family of sunflowers. The most common 4-deoxy-derivatives of aurones in the family include sulfuretin, maritimetin, leptosidin, and their corresponding glycosides (Mazziotti et al, 2022). In addition to Asteraceae, aurones are biosynthesized as the secondary metabolites of many dicotyledons, including Anacardiaceae, Cactaceae, Fabaceae, Gesneriaceae, Moraceae, Oxalidaceae, Plumbaginaceae, Rubiaceae, Rhamnaceae, Rosaceae, and Plantaginaceae (Boucherle et al, 2017).…”

Aurones: Unexplored Visible‐Light Photoswitches for Aqueous Medium

“…[17] Hemiindigo and hemithioindigo are known for their remarkable photoswitching properties (Scheme 1), which have been utilized to provide photocontrol in molecular machinery, biological systems and supramolecular assemblies. [18] At the same time, the majority of aurone studies have been focused on their outstanding biological activities, [19][20][21][22][23] while photoswitching of these molecules has been reported just sporadically. Thus, in 2011, Bane and coworkers have described photoswitching of 4'-aminoaurone in chloroform.…”

Design of Aurone‐Based Dual‐State Emissive (DSE) Fluorophores

“…[19,20] The remarkable spectrum of biological activities of aurones resulted in extensive studies of these molecules as potential drug candidates. [21][22][23] At the same time, other interesting properties of aurones, such as fluorescence and photoswitching, did not gain enough attention. The photophysical studies of the aurone emission in solution are presented only in a few reports.…”

“…Aurones are natural flavonoids that were isolated from plant and marine sources more than 70 years ago [19,20] . The remarkable spectrum of biological activities of aurones resulted in extensive studies of these molecules as potential drug candidates [21–23] . At the same time, other interesting properties of aurones, such as fluorescence and photoswitching, did not gain enough attention.…”