Synthesis and in vitro evaluation of 4-trichloromethylpyrrolo[1,2-a]quinoxalines as new antiplasmodial agents

•Antiplasmodial screening of CCl3-substituted-nitrogen containing heterocycles was made.•2-Trichloromethylquinoxaline scaffold was the most interesting but was too cytotoxic.•Original 4-trichloromethylpyrrolo[1,2-a]quinoxalines analogs were prepared.•3 Compounds displayed an IC50 < 2.4 μM in vitro on K1 Plasmodium falciparum.•Cytotoxicity was assessed in parallel on the human HepG2 cell line showing good selectivity.

Thanks to a preliminary in vitro screening of several CCl3-substituted-nitrogen containing heterocycles belonging to our chemical library, the 2-trichloromethylquinoxaline scaffold appeared to be of potential interest for developing new antiplasmodial agents. Then, combining these experimental results to the antimalarial properties reported for various pyrrolo[1,2-a]quinoxaline derivatives, an original series of fifteen 7-substituted-4-trichoromethylpyrrolo[1,2-a]quinoxalines was synthesized in a 4 to 5 reaction steps pathway. All molecules were evaluated in vitro toward both their antiplasmodial activity on the K1 multi-resistant Plasmodium falciparum strain and their cytotoxicity on the HepG2 human cell line. Thus, 3 hit molecules were identified, displaying IC50 values in the micromolar range and low cytotoxicity values, reaching good selectivity indexes, in comparison with the reference drugs chloroquine and doxycycline. Structure–activity relationship studies showed that the pyrrolo[1,2-a]quinoxaline scaffold can support selective antiplasmodial activity when substituted at position 4 by a CCl3 group. However, substitution at position 7 of the same scaffold is neither beneficial for cytotoxicity nor favourable for the solubility in the biological media.

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