Zinc 1,2,4-triazolo[1,5-a]pyrimidine Complexes: Synthesis, Structural Characterization and their Effect Against Chagas Disease

Abstract

Background: The World Health Organization catalogues illnesses such as Chagas disease as neglected diseases, due to the low investment in new drugs to fight them. The search for novel and non-side effects anti-parasitic compounds is one of the urgent needs of the Third World. The use of triazolopyrimidines and their metal complexes have demonstrated hopeful results in this field.

Objective: This work studies the antiparasitic efficacy against Trypanosoma cruzi strains of a series of zinc triazolopyrimidine complexes.

Methods: A series of Zn complexes has been synthesized by the reaction between the triazolopyrimidine derivatives 7-amino-1,2,4-triazolo[1,5-a]pyrimidine (7atp) and 5,7-dimethyl-1,2,4-triazolo[1,5- a]pyrimidine (dmtp) with Zn(SO₄) · 7H₂O, ZnCl₂, and Zn(NO₃)₂ · 6H₂O salts. The complexes have been analyzed by spectroscopic and thermal assays and X-ray diffraction methods have been used to dilucidate the crystalline structure of one of them. The antiparasitic efficacy was tested in vitro against Trypanosoma cruzi to compare the trypanocidal effect of different ligands and counteranions to fight Chagas disease.

Results: The efficacy of these compounds against Trypanosoma cruzi has also been tested to compare the influence of different ligands and counteranions on the trypanocidal effect against Chagas disease.

Conclusion: Antiproliferative tests corroborate the synergistic trypanocidal effect of the triazolopyrimidine coordination complexes.

Keywords: Chagas disease; Triazolopyrimidine ligands; crystallography; metal complexes; parasitology; zinc complexes.