Anti-malarial, cytotoxicity and molecular docking studies of quinolinyl chalcones as potential anti-malarial agent

The quinolinyl chalcones series (A₁-A₁₄) were screened for antimalarial activity. According to in vitro antimalarial studies, many quinolinyl chalcones are potentially active against CQ-sensitive and resistance P. falciparum strains with no toxicity against Vero cell lines. The most active quinolinyl chalcones A₄ (with IC₅₀ 0.031 μM) made a stable A₄-heme complex with - 25 kcal/mole binding energy and also showed strong π-π interaction at 3.5 Å. Thus, the stable A₄-heme complex formation suggested that these quinolinyl chalcones act as a blocker for heme polymerization. The docking results of quinolinyl chalcones with Pf-DHFR showed that the halogenated benzene part of quinolinyl chalcones made strong interaction with Pf-DHFR as compared to quinoline part. A strong A₄-Pf-DHFR complex was formed with low binding energy (- 11.04 kcal/mole). The ADMET properties of quinolinyl chalcones were also studied. The in vivo antimalarial studies also confirmed the A₄ as an active antimalarial agent.