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No / A series of 19 huprines has been evaluated for their activity against cultured bloodstream forms of Trypanosoma brucei and Plasmodium falciparum. Moreover, cytotoxicity against rat myoblast L6 cells was assessed for selected huprines. All the tested huprines are moderately potent and selective trypanocidal agents, exhibiting IC50 values against T. brucei in the submicromolar to low micromolar range and selectivity indices for T. brucei over L6 cells of approximately 15, thus constituting interesting trypanocidal lead compounds. Two of these huprines were also found to be active against a chloroquine-resistant strain of P. falciparum, thus emerging as interesting trypanocidal–antiplasmodial dual acting compounds, but they exhibited little selectivity for P. falciparum over L6 cells.

No / The indoloquinoline alkaloid cryptolepine 1 has potent in vitro antiplasmodial activity, but it is also a DNA intercalator with cytotoxic properties. We have shown that the antiplasmodial mechanism of 1 is likely to be due, at least in part, to a chloroquine-like action that does not depend on intercalation into DNA. A number of substituted analogues of 1 have been prepared that have potent activities against both chloroquine-sensitive and chloroquine-resistant strains of Plasmodium falciparum and also have in common with chloroquine the inhibition of ß-hematin formation in a cell-free system. Several compounds also displayed activity against Plasmodium berghei in mice, the most potent being 2,7-dibromocryptolepine 8, which suppressed parasitemia by 89% as compared to untreated infected controls at a dose of 12.5 mg kg-1 day-1 ip. No correlation was observed between in vitro cytotoxicity and the effect of compounds on the melting point of DNA (¿Tm value) or toxicity in the mouse¿malaria model.

Thesis (MSc)--Stellenbosch University, 2013. / Aminoquinolines are important class of drugs that have been used for malaria chemotherapy for centuries. However, long-term exposure to these drugs leads to extensive spread of drug resistance. As such, modified chloroquinoline derivatives are being studied as alternative antimalarial agents with the possibility to overcome drug resistance associated with chloroquine analogues. In this study, 15 aminoquinoline derivatives that are linked by a 1,4-disubstituted 1,2,3-triazole ring to an ethyl and propyl carbon spacer with a distal amine motif were designed and synthesized as novel antimalarial agents using the Cu(I)-promoted Huisgen reaction. The compounds have been synthesized from the 7-chloro-N-(prop-2-yn-1-yl)quinolin-4-amine alkyne precursor and the azides of ethyl and propyl amino moieties using a 1,3-dipolar cycloadditioncoupling in the presence of CuI catalyst to obtain moderate to good yields (53 – 85%). These compounds have been characterized by the combination of NMR, ESI+ HRMS and IR spectroscopic methods. The antiplasmodial activity of the compounds was investigated in vitro against P. falciparum strain NF54 using chloroquine as a reference drug together with a standard antimalarial drug artesunate. Of the 15 novel chloroquinoline derivatives, 11 have demonstrated to possess promising potency by way of the inhibition concentrations less than 250 nM with the lowest being 28 nM. The observed activities have been ascribed to the overall modifications such as the introduction of a triazole linker and changing of carbon chain length as these were the variables. The compounds are accordingly under further biological investigations and only the chloroquine sensitive results are reported in this work.

Yes / Dual submicromolar trypanocidal–antiplasmodial compounds have been identified by screening and chemical synthesis of 4-aminoquinoline-based heterodimeric compounds of three different structural classes. In Trypanosoma brucei, inhibition of the enzyme trypanothione reductase seems to be involved in the potent trypanocidal activity of these heterodimers, although it is probably not the main biological target. Regarding antiplasmodial activity, the heterodimers seem to share the mode of action of the antimalarial drug chloroquine, which involves inhibition of the haem detoxification process. Interestingly, all of these heterodimers display good brain permeabilities, thereby being potentially useful for late stage human African trypanosomiasis. Future optimization of these compounds should focus mainly on decreasing cytotoxicity and acetylcholinesterase inhibitory activity.

We have synthesized a series of dimers of (+)-(7R,11R)-huprine Y and evaluated their activity against Trypanosoma brucei, Plasmodium falciparum, rat myoblast L6 cells and human acetylcholinesterase (hAChE), and their brain permeability. Most dimers have more potent and selective trypanocidal activity than huprine Y and are brain permeable, but they are devoid of antimalarial activity and remain active against hAChE. Lead optimization will focus on identifying compounds with a more favourable trypanocidal/anticholinesterase activity ratio.

Ce travail est consacré à la recherche et au développement de nouvelles molécules à viséepharmacologique en série naphtoquinonique en utilisant des réactions par transfert monoélectroniquede type SRN1 et des cyclisations radicalaires oxydatives induites par l'acétate de manganèse(III). Lapremière partie décrit l’étude de la réactivité SRN1 de la 2-(chlorométhyl)-3-méthoxynaphtoquinoneavec divers anions nitronates conduisant à la formation de produits de C-alkylation avec de bonsrendements. Ces derniers ont fait l’objet d’une réaction de réduction-cyclisation permettant la synthèsede nouveaux dérivés benzo[g]indol-5(3H)-ones. Dans la seconde partie, une nouvelle réactiond’oxydation initiée par l’acétate de manganèse(III) a été développée sur la 2-hydroxy-3-méthylnaphtoquinone dans des conditions opératoires douces. En effet, la réactivité originale de la 2-hydroxy-3-méthylnaphtoquinone avec divers alcènes aromatiques en présence de Mn(OAc)3 et dedioxygène, a permis pour la première fois en série naphtoquinonique, l’obtention de nouveaux dérivésoriginaux dihydronaphto[2,3-c][1,2]dioxine-5,10(3H,10aH)-diones sous forme d’un mélange dediastéréoisomères à potentialités antipaludiques. Un mécanisme réactionnel original a été proposé pourla formation de ces produits. / This work is focused on the research and development of new pharmacologicalmolecules in naphthoquinonic series, synthesized by single electron transfer reaction SRN1 ormanganese(III) acetate catalyzed oxidative radical cyclization. The first part describes the SRN1reactivity of 2-(chloromethyl)-3-methoxynaphthoquinone with various nitronate anions leading to theC-alkylation products. The reduction-cyclization reaction of the latter derivatives allowed us to obtainnew benzo[g]indol-5(3H)-one derivatives. In the second part, a new reaction initiated by Mn(OAc)3 on2-hydroxy-3-methylnaphthoquinone was developed under mild conditions. Indeed, the original reaction of2-hydroxy-3-methylnaphthoquinone with various aromatic alkenes in presence of dioxygen led to newdihydronaphtho[2,3-c][1,2]dioxine-5,10(3H,10aH)-dione derivatives as a mixture of diastereoisomerswith antimalarial potential. An original mechanism was proposed in order to explain the formation ofthese products.