Natural products are a boundless source for the development of pharmaceutical agents against a wide range of human diseases. Accordingly, naturally occurring aurones possess various biological benefits, such as anticancer, antioxidant, antimicrobial, antidiabetic, anti-inflammatory, antiviral and neuroprotective effects. In addition, various studies have revealed that aurones are potential templates for the regulation of diabetes mellitus and its associated complications. Likewise, certain aurones and their analogues have been found to be remarkable kinase inhibitors of DARK2, PPAR-γ, PTPM1, AGE, α-amylase and α-glucosidase, which represents a promising approach for the treatment of chronic metabolic disorders such as diabetes. Therefore, in our present study, we provide a detailed account of the advances in aurones as antidiabetic agents over the past decade.

Aurones are naturally occurring structural isomerides of flavones that have diverse bioactivities including antiviral, antibacterial, antifungal, anti-inflammatory, antitumor, antimalarial, antioxidant, neuropharmacological activities and so on. They constitute an important class of pharmacologically active scaffolds that exhibit multiple biological activities via diverse mechanisms. This review article provides an update on the recent advances (2013-2020.4) in the synthesis and biological activities of these derivatives. In the cases where sufficient information is available, some important structure-activity relationships (SAR) of their biological activities were presented, and on the strength of our expertise in medicinal chemistry and careful analysis of the recent literature, for the potential of aurones as medicinal drugs is proposed.