Molecules 2013, 18, 12264-12289; doi:10.3390/molecules181012264 molecules ISSN 1420-3049 www.mdpi.com/journal/molecules Review Schiff Bases: A Short Survey on an Evergreen Chemistry Tool Wenling Qin 1 , Sha Long 1 , Mauro Panunzio 2, * and Stefano Biondi 3, * 1 Dipartimento di Chimica “G. Ciamician” Via Selmi 2, Bologna 40126, Italy; E-Mails: wenling.qin2@unibo.it (W.L.Q.); sha.long2@unibo.it (S.L.) 2 ISOF-CNR Dipartimento di Chimica “G. Ciamician” Via Selmi 2, Bologna 40126, Italy 3 Allecra Therapeutics SAS, 13, Rue du Village Neuf, Saint Louis 68300, France * Authors to whom correspondence should be addressed; E-Mails: mauro.panunzio@unibo.it (M.P.); sdb@allecra.com (S.B.); Tel.: +39-051-209-9508 (M.P.); Fax: +39-051-209-9456 (M.P.). Received: 10 August 2013; in revised form: 18 September 2013 / Accepted: 23 September 2013 / Published: 8 October 2013 Abstract: The review reports a short biography of the Italian naturalized chemist Hugo Schiff and an outline on the synthesis and use of his most popular discovery: the imines, very well known and popular as Schiff Bases. Recent developments on their “metallo-imines” variants have been described. The applications of Schiff bases in organic synthesis as partner in Staudinger and hetero Diels-Alder reactions, as “privileged” ligands in the organometallic complexes and as biological active Schiff intermediates/targets have been reported as well. Keywords: imines; Schiff bases; metallo-imines; salen complexes; bio-active-imines 1. Introduction 1.1. Ugo Schiff (Frankfurt, 26 April 1834-Florence, 8 September 1915): A Brief Biography Ugo (Hugo) Joseph Schiff (Figure 1), one of the founders of modern chemistry, was born in Frankfurt on the 26 April 1834, into a wealthy Jewish family of merchants, Joseph Moses Schiff (1784–1852) and Henriette Trier (1798–1888). OPEN ACCESS