In vitro and in vivo efficacy and in vitro metabolism of 1-phenyl-3-aryl-2-propen-1-ones against Plasmodium falciparum

Direct C3-H Alkylation and Alkenylation of Quinolines with Enones

Conversion of quinoline C-H bonds into C-C bonds is essential for obtaining the enormous array of derivatives required for pharmaceutical and agrochemical development. Despite over a century of synthetic efforts, direct alkylation and alkenylation at C3-H positions in a wide array of quinoline precursors remain predominantly challenging and elusive. This report outlines the first successful quinoline C3-H alkylation and alkenylation reactions, exhibiting exceptional regio- and stereoselectivity, all achieved under redox-neutral and transition-metal-free conditions. The method involves a three-step, one-pot or two-pot sequence, including 1,4-dearomative addition, functionalization at C3, and elimination or transalkylation to produce 3-alkylated/alkenylated quinolines. The presence of a carbonyl group in these products allows for further synthetic manipulations, enabling the production of cyanides, amides, amines, and simple alkyl derivatives.

Synthesis and Evaluation of Chalcone-Quinoline Based Molecular Hybrids as Potential Anti-Malarial Agents

Molecular hybridization is a drug discovery strategy that involves the rational design of new chemical entities by the fusion (usually via a covalent linker) of two or more drugs, both active compounds and/or pharmacophoric units recognized and derived from known bioactive molecules. The expected outcome of this chemical modification is to produce a new hybrid compound with improved affinity and efficacy compared to the parent drugs. Additionally, this strategy can result in compounds presenting modified selectivity profiles, different and/or dual modes of action, reduced undesired side effects and ultimately lead to new therapies. In this study, molecular hybridization was used to generate new molecular hybrids which were tested against the chloroquine sensitive (NF54) strain of P. falciparum. To prepare the new molecular hybrids, the quinoline nucleus, one of the privileged scaffolds, was coupled with various chalcone derivatives via an appropriate linker to produce a total of twenty-two molecular hybrids in 11%–96% yield. The synthesized compounds displayed good antiplasmodial activity with IC₅₀ values ranging at 0.10–4.45 μM.

Chalcone hybrids and their antimalarial activity

Malaria, one of the most striking, re-emerging infectious diseases caused by the genus Plasmodium, places a huge burden on global healthcare systems. A major challenge in the control and eradication of malaria is the continuous emergence of increasingly widespread drug-resistant malaria, creating an urgent need to develop novel antimalarial agents. Chalcone derivatives are ubiquitous in nature and have become indispensable units in medicinal chemistry applications due to their diverse biological profiles. Many chalcone derivatives demonstrate potential in vitro and in vivo antimalarial activity, so chalcone could be a useful template for the development of novel antimalarial agents. This review covers the recent development of chalcone hybrids as antimalarial agents. The critical aspects of the design and structure-activity relationship of these compounds are also discussed.

In vitro efficacy of 2,N-bisarylated 2-ethoxyacetamides against Plasmodium falciparum

Investigation of a series of 2,N-bisarylated 2-ethoxyacetamides resulted in the identification of four inhibitors 5, 20, 24, 29 with single-digit micromolar in vitro efficacy against two drug-resistant Plasmodium falciparum strains. These compounds are analogs of structurally-related 1,3-bisaryl-2-propen-1-ones (chalcones), the latter showing efficacy in vitro but not in a malaria-infected mouse. The 2,N-bisarylated 2-ethoxyacetamides (e.g., 2, 5, 20) were shown to possess significantly greater stability in the presence of metabolizing enzymes than the corresponding 1,3-bisaryl-2-propen-1-ones (e.g., 1, 3, 18).

An efficient synthesis of new caffeine-based chalcones, pyrazolines and pyrazolo[3,4-b][1,4]diazepines as potential antimalarial, antitrypanosomal and antileishmanial agents

A new series of chalcones 5a-f were synthesized from caffeine-based aldehyde 3 and substituted acetophenones 4a-f. Treatment of compounds 5a-f with hydrazine hydrate led to pyrazolines 6a-f, and their subsequent reaction with acetic anhydride or formic acid afforded the corresponding N-substituted pyrazolines 7a-f and 8a-f respectively. Additionally, the regioselective cyclocondensation reaction of chalcones 5a-f with 4,5-diaminopyrazole 9 afforded the diazepine derivatives 10a-f. Synthesis of the above novel compounds was carried out through a simple procedure involving an easy work-up and mild reaction conditions. In vitro antimalarial activity against Plasmodium falciparum was evaluated for the obtained compounds. Among of them, just pirazoline 6a showed an outstanding growth inhibition percentage 85.2 ± 5.4%, while diazepines 10a-f showed remarkable growth inhibitions in the range of 80.3 ± 13.5 to 94.2 ± 0.2% when were tested at 20 μg/mL. Compounds 5b, 5e, 7c and 7f showed remarkable activities against Leishmania panamensis with growth inhibition of 88.3 ± 1.5, 82.6 ± 2.2, 82.8 ± 1.7 and 87.6 ± 0.5% respectively, at 20 μg/mL. In vitro assays against Trypanozoma cruzi showed that pyrazoline 6d displayed a growth inhibition of 61.9 ± 7.8% at 20 μg/mL while chalcone 5f was considered especially active with a growth inhibition of 9.7 ± 1.5% for a very low concentration of 1.0 μg/mL.

4-Aminoquinoline-hybridization en route towards the development of rationally designed antimalarial agents

Recent developments in 4-aminoquinoline-hybridization, as an attractive strategy for averting and delaying the drug resistance along with improvement in efficacy of new antimalarials, are described.

Quinoline-based antimalarial hybrid compounds

Quinoline-containing compounds, such as quinine and chloroquine, have a long-standing history as potent antimalarial agents. However, the increasing resistance of the Plasmodium parasite against these drugs and the lack of licensed malaria vaccines have forced chemists to develop synthetic strategies toward novel biologically active molecules. A strategy that has attracted considerable attention in current medicinal chemistry is based on the conjugation of two biologically active molecules into one hybrid compound. Since quinolines are considered to be privileged antimalarial building blocks, the synthesis of quinoline-containing antimalarial hybrids has been elaborated extensively in recent years. This review provides a literature overview of antimalarial hybrid molecules containing a quinoline core, covering publications between 2009 and 2014.

Synthesis of novel analogs of 2-pyrazoline obtained from [(7-chloroquinolin-4-yl)amino]chalcones and hydrazine as potential antitumor and antimalarial agents

A new series of N-acetyl and N-formyl-pyrazoline derivatives 6 and 7-8 were synthesized by cyclocondensation reaction of [(7-chloroquinolin-4-yl)amino]chalcones with hydrazine hydrate in acetic acid and hydrazine hydrate in formic acid respectively. These compounds were evaluated in vitro as antitumor and as antimalarial agents. Compounds 7b and 8b-e showed remarkable antitumor activity against cancer cell lines, with the most important GI50 values ranging from 0.13 to 0.99 μM. The best antimalarial response was observed for compound 7a with an inhibition percentage of 50.8% for Plasmodium falciparum, a hemolytic capacity of 3.2% and an IC50 of 14.1 μg/mL.

Transgenic Plasmodium parasites stably expressing Plasmodium vivax dihydrofolate reductase-thymidylate synthase as in vitro and in vivo models for antifolate screening

Background

Plasmodium vivax is the most prevalent cause of human malaria in tropical regions outside the African continent. The lack of a routine continuous in vitro culture of this parasite makes it difficult to develop specific drugs for this disease. To facilitate the development of anti-P. vivax drugs, bacterial and yeast surrogate models expressing the validated P. vivax target dihydrofolate reductase-thymidylate synthase (DHFR-TS) have been generated; however, they can only be used as primary screening models because of significant differences in enzyme expression level and in vivo drug metabolism between the surrogate models and P. vivax parasites.

Methods

Plasmodium falciparum and Plasmodium berghei parasites were transfected with DNA constructs bearing P. vivax dhfr-ts pyrimethamine sensitive (wild-type) and pyrimethamine resistant (mutant) alleles. Double crossover homologous recombination was used to replace the endogenous dhfr-ts of P. falciparum and P. berghei parasites with P. vivax homologous genes. The integration of Pvdhfr-ts genes via allelic replacement was verified by Southern analysis and the transgenic parasites lines validated as models by standard drug screening assays.

Results

Transgenic P. falciparum and P. berghei lines stably expressing PvDHFR-TS replacing the endogenous parasite DHFR-TS were obtained. Anti-malarial drug screening assays showed that transgenic parasites expressing wild-type PvDHFR-TS were pyrimethamine-sensitive, whereas transgenic parasites expressing mutant PvDHFR-TS were pyrimethamine-resistant. The growth and sensitivity to other types of anti-malarial drugs in the transgenic parasites were otherwise indistinguishable from the parental parasites.

Conclusion

With the permanent integration of Pvdhfr-ts gene in the genome, the transgenic Plasmodium lines expressing PvDHFR-TS are genetically stable and will be useful for screening anti-P. vivax compounds targeting PvDHFR-TS. A similar approach could be used to generate transgenic models specific for other targets of interest, thus facilitating the development of anti-P. vivax drugs in general.

Design, synthesis and in vitro antimalarial evaluation of triazole-linked chalcone and dienone hybrid compounds

A targeted series of chalcone and dienone hybrid compounds containing aminoquinoline and nucleoside templates was synthesized and evaluated for in vitro antimalarial activity. The Cu(I)-catalyzed cycloaddition of azides and terminal alkynes was applied as the hybridization strategy. Several chalcone-chloroquinoline hybrid compounds were found to be notably active, with compound 8b the most active, exhibiting submicromolar IC(50) values against the D10, Dd2 and W2 strains of Plasmodium falciparum.

Synthesis and antimalarial evaluation of a series of piperazinyl flavones

A series of 27 flavonoid derivatives containing a piperazinyl chain have been synthesized and tested for their antiplasmodial activity. Diverse substitution patterns on piperazinyl and flavone moieties were examined and found to affect the activity differently. The most active compounds, which have a 2,3,4-trimethoxybenzylpiperazinyl chain attached to the flavone at the 7-phenol group, showed in vitro activity against chloroquine-sensitive (Thai) and -resistant (FcB1,K1) Plasmodium falciparum strains in the micromolar to submicromolar range. One of them was active when given orally in a Plasmodium yoelii nigeriensis infected mouse model.