Synthesis of mono-, bis-spiro- and dispiro-β-lactams and evaluation of their antimalarial activities

Some new mono-, bis-spiro- and dispiro-β-lactams have been synthesized from imines derived from 9H-fluoren-9-one and a ketene derived from 9H-xanthene-9-carboxylic acid or phenoxyacetic acid by a [2+2] cycloaddition reaction in good to excellent yields varying from 45 to 83%. The biological activity of these monocyclic β-lactams was successfully investigated against Plasmodium falciparum K14 resistant strain with excellent EC50 values up to 5 μM.