Five-Membered Rings With Three Oxygen or Sulfur Atoms in 1,2,4-Positions

This article focuses on five-membered heterocyclic compounds with three oxygen or sulfur atoms in 1,2,4-positions and their characterization, reactivities and applications are discussed. Specifically, the two main scaffolds reported in this article are 1,2,4-trioxolanes and 1,2,4-trithiolanes. The methods that are used for characterization of these compounds include X-ray diffraction, nuclear magnetic resonance, mass spectrometry and other spectroscopic methods such as IR and Raman. The reactivity of 1,2,4-trioxolanes and 1,2,4-trithiolanes has been dominated by their thermal and photochemical decompositions. In recent years, the derivatives of 1,2,4-trioxolane and 1,2,4-trithiolane have been increasingly investigated for drug discovery application especially as antimalarial agents.