Antimalarial compounds

The success of quinine inspired the search for other antimalarials. The greatest impetus for the development of synthetic dmgs came this century when the two World Wars intermpted the supply of cinchona bark to the combatants. A stmcturally related 4-quinolinemethanol is mefloquine (65, Lariam [51773-92-3]) which now serves as an effective alternative agent for chloroquine-resistant P. falciparum. This is a potent substance that requires less than one-tenth the dose of quinine to effect cures. There are some untoward side effects associated with this dmg such as gastrointestinal upset and dizziness, but they tend to be transient. Mefloquine is not recommended for use by those using beta-blockers, those whose job requires fine coordination and spatial discrimination, or those with a history of epilepsy or psychiatric disorders. A combination of mefloquine with Fansidar (a mixture of pyrimethamine and sulfadoxine) is known as Fansimef but its use is not recommended. Resistance to mefloquine has been reported even though the compound has not been in wide use. 

The first are competitors of PABA (p-aminobenzoic acid) and thus intermpt host de novo formation of the tetrahydrofoUc acid required for nucleic acid synthesis. Examples of dmgs that fall into this group are the sulfones and sulfonamides. The most weU-known of the sulfones is dapsone (70, 4,4 -diaminodiphenyl sulfone, DDS), whose toxicity has discouraged its use. Production of foHc acid, which consists of PABA, a pteridine unit, and glutamate, is disturbed by the substitution of a sulfonamide (stmcturally similar to PABA). The antimalarial sulfonamides include sulfadoxine (71, Fanasd [2447-57-6]) sulfadiazine (25), and sulfalene (72, sulfamethoxypyrazine [152-47-6] Kelfizina). Compounds of this group are rapidly absorbed but are cleared slowly. 

Quinones and naphthoquinones were explored during the World War 11 Antimalarial Dmg Program. Now that chloroquine resistance is a serious problem, compounds of this group such as menoctone (76) are being reinvestigated. 

Aminoquinazolines have been the subject of considerable investigation and a large number of derivatives have been prepared as potential antimalarials. The secondary and tertiary amino compounds can be prepared from the corresponding chloroquinazolines and the required primary or secondary amines. The reaction depends on the reactivity of the halogen atom, e.g, the 4-chloro atom reacts more readily than the 2-chloro atom in quinazolines and also on the basic strength of the amine used (see 6a). The reaction is... 

Synthetic and natural antimalarials, among them heterocyclic compounds 99JHC1599. 

The analog program on pyrimidines included some open-chain versions of this heterocycle as well. These last, the biguanides, were found to be quite active in their own right. (It was subsequently established that these compounds undergo oxidative cyclization to dihydropyrimidines in the body to give the actual antimalarial—see cycloguanyl). 

Aromatic biguanides such as proguanil (181) have been found useful as antimalarial agents. Investigation of the metabolism of this class of drugs revealed that the active compound was in fact the triazine produced by oxidative cyclization onto the terminal alkyl group. The very rapid excretion of the active entity means that it cannot be used as such in therapy. Consequently, treatment usually consists in administration of either the metabolic precursor or, alternately, the triazine as some very insoluble salt to provide slow but continual release of drug. 

The oldest effective drug for the treatment of this disease is indisputably quinine. Although the antipyretic activity of cinchona bark was known to the Incas, it remained for the Jesuit missionaries to uncover its antimalarial properties in the early seventeenth century. The advance of organic chemistry led to the isolation and identification of the alkaloid, quinine, as the active compound at the turn of this century. The emerging clinical importance of this drug led up to the establishment of cinchona plantations in the Dutch East Indies. This very circum-... 

The pioneering work carried out in Germany in the 1920s showed that appropriately substituted aminoquinolines and amino-acridines afforded a series of synthetic compounds that exhibited antimalarial activity.The exigencies of the Second World War led to a massive program aimed at the same goal in this country. This work led to the development of two distinct structural classes of quinoline antimalarials the 4-amino-7-chloroquino-... 

Mourier s report was quickly followed by successful enantiomeric resolutions on stationary phases bearing other types of chiral selectors, including native and deriva-tized cyclodextrins and derivatized polysaccharides. Many chiral compounds of pharmaceutical interest have now been resolved by packed column SFC, including antimalarials, (3-blockers, and antivirals. A summary is provided in Table 12-2. Most of the applications have utilized modified CO, as the eluent. 

Some of the initial enthusiasm surrounding chiral SFC was tempered by the fact that many of the same separations had already been achieved by LC [29]. Therefore, researchers were reluctant to add SFC to their analytical laboratories. In some instances, SFC does yield separations that can not be achieved on the same CSP in LC [30, 31]. The enantioseparation of primaquine, an antimalarial compound, on a Chiralcel OD CSP is illustrated in Fig. 12-1 [32]. This compound was not resolved on the same CSP in LC [33]. The reverse situation, where a separation obtained in LC may not be observed on the same CSP in SFC, can also occur [34]. These disparities seem to be related to differences in analyte-eluent and eluent-CSP interac-... 

The E-state indices may define chemical spaces that are relevant in similarity/ diversity search in chemical databases. This similarity search is based on atom-type E-state indices computed for the query molecule [55]. Each E-state index is converted to a z score, Z =(% -p )/0 , where is the ith E-state atomic index, p is its mean and O is its standard deviation in the entire database. The similarity was computed with the EucHdean distance and with the cosine index and the database used was the Pomona MedChem database, which contains 21000 chemicals. Tests performed for the antiinflamatory drug prednisone and the antimalarial dmg mefloquine as query molecules demonstrated that the chemicals space defined by E-state indices is efficient in identifying similar compounds from drug and drug-tike databases. 

As a generalization, to be orally well absorbed a compound must be soluble in the contents of the gastrointestinal lumen [4]. Solubility in aqueous buffer is commonly used as a simpHfying surrogate for intestinal content solubility. There are rare exceptions to the principle that to be absorbed a compound must be soluble. SoHd particles, e.g. starch, can be absorbed. Absorption of very small quantities of even biologically very large compounds can occur via lymphoid tissue, e.g. orally active vaccines. Very hpophihc basic compounds, e.g. certain antimalarials, can be absorbed via the intestinal lymphatics and dehvered directly to the heart... 

Alkylation of dianions occurs at the more basic carbon. This technique permits alkylation of 1,3-dicarbonyl compounds to be carried out cleanly at the less acidic position. Since, as discussed earlier, alkylation of the monoanion occurs at the carbon between the two carbonyl groups, the site of monoalkylation can be controlled by choice of the amount and nature of the base. A few examples of the formation and alkylation of dianions are collected in Scheme 1.7. In each case, alkylation occurs at the less stabilized anionic carbon. In Entry 3, the a-formyl substituent, which is removed after the alkylation, serves to direct the alkylation to the methyl-substituted carbon. Entry 6 is a step in the synthesis of artemisinin, an antimalarial component of a Chinese herbal medicine. The sulfoxide serves as an anion-stabilizing group and the dianion is alkylated at the less acidic a-position. Note that this reaction is also stereoselective for the trans isomer. The phenylsulfinyl group is removed reductively by aluminum. (See Section 5.6.2 for a discussion of this reaction.)... 

Scheme 10.6 gives some examples of the Ramberg-Backlund reaction. Entry 1 was used to prepare analogs of the antimalarial compound artemisinin for biological evaluation. The reaction in Entry 2 was used to install the side chain in a synthesis of the chrysomycin type of antibiotic. Entries 3 and 4 are examples of formation of C-glycosides. 

Achebach, H. Waibel, R. Nkunya, M. H. H. Weenen, H. Antimalarial compounds from Hoslundia opposita. Phytochemistry 1992, 31, 3781-3784. 

Acridine dyes such as the antimalarial agent quinacrine (Atabrine) shown next are large planar aromatic compounds that intercalate or sandwich themselves between the stacked bases of the helix. 

Dwivedi et al. used a thin-layer chromatographic densitometric and ultraviolet spectrophotometric methods for the simultaneous determination of primaquine and a new antimalarial agent, CDRI compound number 80/53 [68]. The new antimalari-al agent, compound 80/53 is unstable in acidic conditions where it is converted into primaquine. To conduct stability studies of this compound, thin-layer chromatography densitometric and ultraviolet spectrophotometric determination methods were developed. These methods are also suitable of the determination of compound 80/53 or primaquine in bulk and pharmaceutical dosage forms. 

Moore and Hemmens [119] studied the photosensitization of primaquine and other antimalarial agents. The drugs were tested for in vitro photosensitizing capability by irradiation with 365 nm ultraviolet light in aqueous solutions. The ability of these compounds to photosensitize the oxidation of 2,5-dimethylfuran, histidine, trypotophan, or xanthine, and to initiate the free radical polymerization of acrylamide was examined in the pH range 2 12. Primaquine does not have significant photochemical activity in aqueous solution. 

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