The Renewal of Interest in Nitroaromatic Drugs: Towards New Anti-Kinetoplastid Agents

Nicolas Primas (1) , Caroline Ducros (1) , Patrice Vanelle (1) , Pierre Verhaeghe (2)

1 ICR - Institut de Chimie Radicalaire
2 LCC - Laboratoire de chimie de coordination

In the 1940s, nitroaromatic compounds showed their potential as chemotherapeutic agents. Many furans were synthesized as part of the search for new antibacterials. Though nitrofurazone did not find applications in the treatment of neglected tropical diseases, its structure encouraged the industry to synthesize and test numerous nitro-containing heterocycles. Nitroreductases cover a family of proteins whose first members were discovered in eubacteria and were classified by sequence similarities. These enzymes can catalyze the reduction of nitroaromatics by using flavin mononucleotide or flavin adenine dinucleotide as prosthetic groups, and nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide or nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate as reducing agents. The chapter presents a survey of the recent literature concerning anti-kinetoplastid nitroaromatics. In the survey, the molecules are presented according to their biological activity: antichagasic derivatives, anti-Trypanosoma brucei derivatives and antileishmanial derivatives.

Domaines: Chimie de coordination

Nicolas Primas, Caroline Ducros, Patrice Vanelle, Pierre Verhaeghe. The Renewal of Interest in Nitroaromatic Drugs: Towards New Anti-Kinetoplastid Agents. Venkatesan Jayaprakash; Daniele Castagnolo; Yusuf Özkay. Medicinal Chemistry of Neglected and Tropical Diseases. Advances in the Design and Synthesis of Antimicrobial Agents, CRC Press, pp.250-280, 2019, 978-1-138-54124-5. ⟨10.1201/9781351011655-12⟩. ⟨hal-02923853⟩