Reaction of 2-Amino-1,4-Naphthoquinone Derivatives with Dimethyl Acetylenedicarboxylate

Experimental chemotherapy for Chagas disease: 15 years of research contributions from in vivo and in vitro studies

Chagas disease, which is caused by the intracellular parasite Trypanosoma cruzi, is a neglected illness with 12-14 million reported cases in endemic geographic regions of Latin America. While the disease still represents an important public health problem in these affected areas, the available therapy, which was introduced more than four decades ago, is far from ideal due to its substantial toxicity, its limited effects on different parasite stocks, and its poor activity during the chronic phase of the disease. For the past 15 years, our group, in collaboration with research groups focused on medicinal chemistry, has been working on experimental chemotherapies for Chagas disease, investigating the biological activity, toxicity, selectivity and cellular targets of different classes of compounds on T. cruzi. In this report, we present an overview of these in vitro and in vivo studies, focusing on the most promising classes of compounds with the aim of contributing to the current knowledge of the treatment of Chagas disease and aiding in the development of a new arsenal of candidates with anti-T. cruzi efficacy.

Studies on the trypanocidal activity of semi-synthetic pyran[b-4,3]naphtho[1,2-d]imidazoles from β-lapachone

We synthesized new naphthoimidazoles from beta-lapachone with an aromatic moiety linked to the imidazole ring, using phenylic and heterocyclic aldehydes. The most active compound against Trypanosoma cruzi had a p-methyl group linked to the phenyl ring, presenting an EC(50) value of 15.5 +/- 2.9 microM. No reliable correlation could be established with the biological activity and the structure of in the phenylic series. For the heterocyclic series, activity was associated with a three bond-distance from nitrogen to the imidazole ring, in accordance with our previous work.