Molecules 2011, 16(6), 4527-4538; doi:10.3390/molecules16064527
Article

Synthesis and Antimalarial Activity of Novel Dihydro-Artemisinin Derivatives

Yang Liu 1 email, Kunqiang Cui 2 email, Weiqiang Lu 2 email, Wei Luo 1 email, Jian Wang 1 email, Jin Huang 2 email and Chun Guo 1,* email
1 Key Laboratory of Structure-Based Drug Design & Discovery of Ministry of Education, School of Pharmaceutical Engineering, Shenyang Pharmaceutical University, Shenyang 110016, China 2 School of Pharmacy, East China University of Science and Technology, Shanghai 200237, China
* Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Received: 18 April 2011; in revised form: 20 May 2011 / Accepted: 24 May 2011 / Published: 30 May 2011
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Abstract: The Plasmodium falciparum cysteine protease falcipain-2, one of the most promising targets for antimalarial drug design, plays a key role in parasite survival as a major peptide hydrolase within the hemoglobin degradation pathway. In this work, a series of novel dihydroartemisinin derivatives based on (thio)semicarbazone scaffold were designed and synthesized as potential falcipain-2 inhibitors. The in vitro biological assay indicated that most of the target compounds showed excellent inhibition activity against P. falciparum falcipain-2, with IC50 values in the 0.29–10.63 μM range. Molecular docking studies were performed to investigate the binding affinities and interaction modes for the inhibitors. The preliminary SARs were summarized and could serve as a foundation for further investigation in the development of antimalarial drugs.
Keywords: falcipain-2 inhibitors; dihydroartemisinin derivatives; inhibition activity; molecular docking studies; SARs

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MDPI and ACS Style

Liu, Y.; Cui, K.; Lu, W.; Luo, W.; Wang, J.; Huang, J.; Guo, C. Synthesis and Antimalarial Activity of Novel Dihydro-Artemisinin Derivatives. Molecules 2011, 16, 4527-4538.

AMA Style

Liu Y, Cui K, Lu W, Luo W, Wang J, Huang J, Guo C. Synthesis and Antimalarial Activity of Novel Dihydro-Artemisinin Derivatives. Molecules. 2011; 16(6):4527-4538.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Liu, Yang; Cui, Kunqiang; Lu, Weiqiang; Luo, Wei; Wang, Jian; Huang, Jin; Guo, Chun. 2011. "Synthesis and Antimalarial Activity of Novel Dihydro-Artemisinin Derivatives." Molecules 16, no. 6: 4527-4538.

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