Parasitic infections are one of the most causes of death in humans. Malaria has been extensively studied since it is one of the leading diseases in the world caused by parasites. The main source for human malaria infections is the Plasmodium falciparum. Because of the chloroquine resistance by Plasmodium falciparum the development and interest of potential antimalarial drugs have arisen. So far the new treatments that have been developed for this disease, have an increment in cost since most of them require the use of more than one drug at once. In order to find more efficient treatment that relies on a single drug, many researchers are exploring new compounds with antimalarial potential. Among the compounds that had recently shown good biological activity are compounds with chalcone and heterocyclic moieties, among them, the ferrocenyl chalcones. These have been synthesized with a variety of substituents that exhibit biological potential as anti-plasmodial, anti-bacterial, anti-cancer, cytotoxic, etc. Our research is focused on the antimalarial properties of ferrocenyl chalcones containing nitrogen in the core. Our main interest focuses on the synthesis and electrochemical studies of ferrocenyl chalcones salts derivatives and explore their anti-plasmodial activity. A variety of ferrocenyl amine and pyridines chalcones have been synthesized by a base catalyzed Claisen-Schmidt reaction. To improve their solubility in aqueous media and their antimalarial activity, corresponding salts were prepared by a nucleophilic quaternization reaction at the nitrogen. These compounds have been synthesized with moderate to good yields and most of them are miscible in water at room temperature. The purity of the compounds was established by 1H and 13C NMR spectra. The synthetic methodology, characterization and preliminary biological assays of these compounds will be elaborated.

Ferrocenyl chalcones salts derivatives as potential antimalarial agents

251st National Meeting (2016)

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.