Malaria is a parasitic infection considered a serious global public health problem. Plasmodium falciparum is the causative agent of malaria that presents a greater adaptability by mutation causing resistance to antimalarial drugs. The use of plant material in the treatment of malaria aroused to search natural products as a source of molecules or inspiration for the development of new antimalarial drugs. Dioclea virgata was selected because of its antimalarial potential and for being a plant species present in the semiarid. The objective of this study was to identify flavonoids in D. virgata with potential inhibitory to the promising target, Enoyl-ACP Reductase, present in P. falciparum (PfENR) by virtual screening. Analysis of the extracts of leaves and stems from the D. virgata, by HPLC-DAD allowed to identify the flavonoid luteolin in chloroform extract of leaves, which obtained an affinity energy value of-32.03 Kcal/mol in relation to the enzyme. This negative value indicates that intermolecular interactions were formed easily.
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