ANTIMALARIAL ACTIVITY OF DEOXOQINGHAOSU

Compound 3 (deoxoqinghaosu)and compound 4 (deoxocarbaqinghaosu) were synthesized from arteannuic acid (2). Primary exploration of their antimalarial effect against K₁₇₃ strain of Plasmodium berghei shows that compound 3 is somewhat more effective than the natural compound—— qinghaosu.However, the carba-analogue compound 4 is almost ineffective. The enhanced activity of compound 3 is supposedly ascribed to its higher lipophilicity and, hence, higher affinity for plasmodial membrance. Further studies are in progress.