A comprehensive review on pyrimidine analogs-versatile scaffold with medicinal and biological potential

•Pyrimidine analogs have been known for medicinal and biological significance.•Pyrimidine analogs are known for more than five decades of clinical use.•Different aspects of pyrimidine as potential therapeutics.•The inhibitory effect of these analogs on targeted pathways causes disease.•There will be a real challenge for innovative researchers to develop lead molecules as potent drugs without cytotoxicity and drug resistance.