Synthesis of plasmodione metabolites and 13C-enriched plasmodione as chemical tools for drug metabolism investigation

Org Biomol Chem. 2018 Apr 18;16(15):2647-2665. doi: 10.1039/c8ob00227d.

Abstract

Malaria is a tropical parasitic disease threatening populations in tropical and sub-tropical areas. Resistance to antimalarial drugs has spread all over the world in the past 50 years, thus new drugs are urgently needed. Plasmodione (benzylmenadione series) has been identified as a potent antimalarial early lead drug, acting through a redox bioactivation on asexual and young sexual blood stages. To investigate its metabolism, a series of plasmodione-based tools, including a fully 13C-labelled lead drug and putative metabolites, have been designed and synthesized for drug metabolism investigation. Furthermore, with the help of UHPLC-MS/MS, two of the drug metabolites have been identified from urine of drug-treated mice.

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Antimalarials / chemical synthesis*
  • Antimalarials / metabolism
  • Antimalarials / pharmacology
  • Carbon Isotopes
  • Drug Resistance, Multiple
  • Humans
  • Isotope Labeling
  • Mice
  • Oxidation-Reduction
  • Plasmodium berghei / drug effects
  • Plasmodium falciparum / drug effects
  • Vitamin K 3 / analogs & derivatives*
  • Vitamin K 3 / chemical synthesis*
  • Vitamin K 3 / metabolism
  • Vitamin K 3 / pharmacology

Substances

  • Antimalarials
  • Carbon Isotopes
  • Vitamin K 3
  • Carbon-13