Synthesis of novel β-lactams bearing an anthraquinone moiety, and evaluation of their antimalarial activities

A novel series of β-lactams bearing an anthraquinone moiety have been synthesized from imines derived from anthraquinone-2-carbaldehyde and ketenes by a [2+2] cycloaddition reaction. The cycloadducts were fully characterized and evaluated for their antimalarial activities against Plasmodium falciparum K14 resistant strain and showed moderate to excellent EC50 values varying from 9 to 50 μM.