Synthesis of tetrazole- and imidazole-based compounds: prophetic molecules made real for biological studies

The synthesis of tetrazole- and imidazole-based derivatives has been achieved via sulfur nucleophilic ringopening of 2-oxiranyl-alcohols or chlorides. The derivatives obtained may represent interesting new chemical tools to investigate biological functions and in particular the mitochondrial molecular chaperone TRAP1. The results are discussed in the light of the availability of these molecules according to the proposed synthetic procedures.