[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 membrane. Further studies are in progress.