Pyrazolopyrimidines are the fused heterocyclic ring systems which structurally resemble with purines, and exhibit important biological actions. Pyrazolopyrimidines derivatives have great importance in the field of chemical synthesis, agriculture and pharmaceutical industries due to their wide range of applications. Over the past few decades, researchers have focused their research on the synthesis of novel pyrazolopyrimidine derivatives. The pyrazolopyrimidines heterocyclic ring is an integral part of various synthetic compounds with wide range of therapeutic and pharmacological potentials like anti-inflammatory, antibacterial, anticancer, antifungal, antiviral, anticonvulsant, anti-tubercular, etc Many marketed drugs are pyrazolopyrimidine derivatives like antiviral drugs which include acyclovir, ganciclovir, didanosine, abacavir and adefovir. Due to the wide scope of pharmacological potentials of pyrazolopyrimidine derivatives, research community has shown great interest to discover new pyrazolopyrimidines having potent bioactivities with no or lesser side effects. This review summarizes the recent developments on the synthetic approaches, mechanism of action and anticancer activity of pyrazolopyrimidines.

Keywords: Pyrazolopyrimidines, Anticancer