American Chemical Society, Journal of Medicinal Chemistry, 4(50), p. 595-598, 2007
DOI: 10.1021/jm061429p
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Identification of new molecular scaffolds structurally unrelated to known antimalarials may represent a valid strategy to overcome resistance of P. falciparum (Pf) to currently available drugs. We describe herein the investigation of a new polycyclic pharmacophore, related to clotrimazole, to develop innovative antimalarial agents. This study allowed us to discover compounds characterized by a high in vitro potency, particularly against Pf CQ-resistant strains selectively targeting free heme, which are easy to synthesize by low-cost synthetic strategies.