Kojic acid and its derivatives: history and present state of art.

Abstract

Kojic acid (5-hydroxy-2-hydroxymethyl-4-pyranone) represents an attractive polyfunctional skeleton for development of biologically active compounds. The authors prepared a great variety of kojic acid derivatives and selected biological properties have been studied. Thus, kojic acid derivatives are promising compounds that might advantageously be used in human and/or veterinary medicine and also in preparation of new, even more biologically active preparations.