Chapter 6

MALARIA Synthesis of Hybrid Molecules and Inhibitors of Falcipain for Use as Therapeutic Agents in Treatment of Malaria

Renata Barbosa de Oliveira, Marcela Silva Lopes and Saulo Fehelberg Pinto Braga

Abstract

Malaria is a tropical disease caused by infectious species of Plasmodium that are transmitted to people through the bites of infected mosquitoes. Malaria kills more than 650,000 people worldwide each year. Plasmodium resistance to antimalarial medicines, toxicity and high cost are the major obstacles in the fight against this disease. Therefore, there is an urgent need for the development of new more effective and less toxic antimalarials, especially compounds that act against novel molecular targets in order to circumvent the problem of increasing resistance. This chapter is focused on recent advances in the field of synthesis of compounds having antimalarial activity based on two strategies: synthesis of hybrid molecules and synthesis of inhibitors of a cysteine protease (falcipain) that plays a key role in malaria parasites.

Total Pages: 172-195 (24)

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