Novel quinoxaline 1,4-di-N-oxide derivatives as new potential antichagasic agents
- Eur J Med Chem. 2013 Aug:66:324-34. doi: 10.1016/j.ejmech.2013.04.065.
- 1. Neglected Diseases Section, Drug R&D Unit, Center for Applied Pharmacobiology Research, University of Navarra, C/Irunlarrea 1, 31008 Pamplona, Spain.
As a continuation of our research and with the aim of obtaining new agents against Chagas disease, an extremely neglected disease which threatens 100 million people, eighteen new quinoxaline 1,4-di-N-oxide derivatives have been synthesized following the Beirut reaction. The synthesis of the new derivatives was optimized through the use of a new and more efficient microwave-assisted organic synthetic method. The new derivatives showed excellent in vitro biological activity against Trypanosoma cruzi. Compound 17, which was substituted with fluoro groups at the 6- and 7-positions of the quinoxaline ring, was the most active and selective in the cytotoxicity assay. The electrochemical study showed that the most active compounds, which were substituted by electron-withdrawing groups, possessed a greater ease of reduction of the N-oxide groups.