Emergence of pyrido quinoxalines as new family of antimalarial agents

A series of novel N-alkyl dihydro pyrido quinoxaline derivatives were synthesized using Gould-Jacobs reaction and evaluated their antimalarial activity in vitro against chloroquine sensitive (3D7) and drug resistant (Dd2) strains of Plasmodium falciparum. Among the compounds tested, 10 compounds were more potent than their structural standard analog ciprofloxacin, including 2 derivatives 5e and 5h, which showed 3.3-7.4 times more potency than ciprofloxacin against both the parasite strains. The results are encouraging and a lead molecule may emerge which is useful alone or in combination therapy. (C) 2014 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.