C-Glycopyranosyl Arenes and Hetarenes: Synthetic Methods and Bioactivity Focused on Antidiabetic Potential

This Review summarizes close to 500 primary publications and surveys published since 2000 about the syntheses and diverse bioactivities of C-glycopyranosyl (het)arenes. A classification of the preparative routes to these synthetic targets according to methodologies and compound categories is provided. Several of these compounds, regardless of their natural or synthetic origin, display antidiabetic properties due to enzyme inhibition (glycogen phosphorylase, protein tyrosine phosphatase 1B) or by inhibiting renal sodium-dependent glucose cotransporter 2 (SGLT2). The latter class of synthetic inhibitors, very recently approved as antihyperglycemic drugs, opens new perspectives in the pharmacological treatment of type 2 diabetes. Various compounds with the C-glycopyranosyl (het)arene motif were subjected to biological studies displaying among others antioxidant, antiviral, antibiotic, antiadhesive, cytotoxic, and glycoenzyme inhibitory effects.