Natural product derivatives are essential in searching for compounds with important chemical,
biological, and medical applications.
Naphthoquinones are secondary metabolites found in plants and are used in
traditional medicine to treat diverse human diseases. Considering this, the synthesis of
naphthoquinone derivatives has been explored to contain compounds with potential
biological activity. It has been reported that the chemical modification of
naphthoquinones improves their pharmacological properties by introducing
amines,
amino acids,
furan,
pyran,
pyrazole,
triazole,
indole, among other chemical groups. In this systematic review, we summarized the preparation of
nitrogen naphthoquinones derivatives and discussed their
biological effect associated with redox properties and other mechanisms. Preclinical evaluation of antibacterial and/or antitumoral
naphthoquinones derivatives is included because
cancer is a worldwide health problem, and there is a lack of effective drugs against multidrug-resistant bacteria. The information presented herein indicates that
naphthoquinone derivatives could be considered for further studies to provide drugs efficient in treating
cancer and multidrug-resistant bacteria.