Quinoline and quinolones: promising scaffolds for future antimycobacterial agents

Tuberculosis (TB) is still a major health concern worldwide. The increasing incidences of multi-drug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) necessitate the development of new anti-TB drugs acting via novel mode of action. The search of newer drugs for TB led to the identification of several quinoline-based antimycobacterial agents against both the drug-sensitive and MDR-TB. These agents have been designed by substituting quinoline scaffold with diverse chemical functionalities as well as by modifying quinoline/quinolone-based antibacterial drugs. Several of quinoline/quinolone derivatives displayed excellent antimycobacterial activity and were found free of cytotoxicity. This review highlights the critical aspects of design and structure-activity relationship of quinoline- and quinolone-based antimycobacterial agents.