Monocyclic β-Lactam: A Review on Synthesis and Potential Biological Activities of a Multitarget Core

A monocyclic ring in their structure characterizes monobactams, a subclass of β-lactam antibiotics. Many of these compounds have a bactericidal mechanism of action and acts as penicillin and cephalosporins, interfering with bacterial cell wall biosynthesis. The synthesis of novel β-lactams is an emerging area of organic synthesis research due to the problem of increasing bacterial resistance to existing β -lactam antibiotics, and, in this way, new compounds have been presented with several structural modifications, aiming to improve biological activities. Among the biological activities studied, the most outstanding are antibacterial, antitubercular, anticholesterolemic, anticancer, antiinflammatory, antiviral, and anti-enzymatic, among others. This review explores the vast number of works related to monocyclic β-lactams, compounds of great importance in scientific research.