Sixteen new artemisinin-derived 2-carbon-linked trioxane dimers were prepared to study chemical structure/antimalarial activity relationships (SAR). Administering a very low single oral dose of only 5 mg/kg of dimer secondary alcohol 6a or 6b plus 15 mg/kg of mefloquine hydrochloride prolonged the lives of Plasmodium berghei-infected mice to an average of 25 days after infection. This ACT chemotherapy result is of high medicinal significance because the antimalarial efficacy of the popular trioxane drug artemether (2) plus mefloquine under the same conditions was significantly lower (only 20 day average survival). NH-Aryl carbamate derivatives 7e, 7i, and 7j of 2-carbon-linked dimer alcohol 6b also significantly outperformed artemether (2) in prolonging the survival times (25–27 days) of malaria-infected mice.
Several 2-carbon-linked trioxane dimer secondary alcohol carbonates 14 and thiocarbonates 15, combined with mefloquine and administered in a low single oral dose, prolonged the survival times of malaria-infected mice much more effectively than the popular monomeric antimalarial drug artemether plus mefloquine. Three dimer carbonates 14 and one dimer thiocarbonate 15 partially cured malaria-infected mice.
With the use of benzonitrile-stabilized Au(I) catalyst [Au(IPr)(NCPh)]SbF(6) (Ic; IPr=1,3-bis(2,6-diisopropylphenyl)imidazol-2-ylidene), a spectrum of reactivity is observed for propargyl ester 4a with cyclic vinyl ethers, ranging from exclusively [3C+2C] cycloaddition reactions to exclusively cyclopropanation depending only on the structure of the substrate. Some initially formed cyclopropanation products rearrange into the corresponding formally [3C+2C] cycloaddition products after treatment with fresh Au(I) complex at 80 °C. Vinylcyclopropanes formed from dihydrofuran and dihydropyran resisted such rearrangement, even in the presence of fresh Au(I) catalyst at elevated temperature. This study addresses an important mechanistic question concerning whether the five-membered-ring products were produced by a direct [3C+2C] cycloaddition reaction or by a sequential cyclopropanation/ring-expansion reaction. A dual pathway is proposed for the Au(I)-catalyzed reactions between propargyl esters and cyclic vinyl ethers. The different behavior among vinyl cyclic ethers is attributed to the difference in the polarization of the π bond. Highly polarized bonds appear to undergo the cycloaddition reaction whereas less polar π-bonds produce cyclopropanes.
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