Xanthones and Their Nitrogen and Sulfur Analogs in Alzheimer’s Disease: Recent Progress Toward Multifunctional Therapeutics

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a multifactorial neurodegenerative disorder and the leading cause of dementia among the elderly worldwide. In medicinal chemistry and drug discovery, heterocycles are widely recognized as privileged scaffolds due to their structural versatility and biological relevance. In the context of AD, heterocyclic compounds have been extensively investigated for the development of potential therapeutic agents. Among fused heterocyclic systems, oxygen-, nitrogen-, and sulfur-containing heterocycles are particularly prominent in approved drugs. This review focuses on recent advances in the exploration of xanthone derivatives, alongside with their nitrogen- and sulfur-containing analogs, as promising template scaffolds for the development of prospective anti-AD therapeutics.