"One-pot" synthesis and antimalarial activity of formamidine derivatives of 4-anilinoquinoline

Amodiaquine (AQ) is an antimalarial which is effective against chloroquino-resistant strains of Plasmodium falciparum but whose clinical use is severely restricted because of associated hepatotoxicity and agranulocytosis. "One-pot" synthesis of formamidines likely to be transformed into AQ derivatives is reported. Compared with AQ, the new compounds were devoid of in vitro cytotoxicity upon human embryonic lung cells and mouse peritoneal macrophages. One showed a potent in vivo activity in mice infected with P berghei. Transformation of this compound by reductive amination led to a new type of AQ derivatives that displayed an in vitro activity similar to that of AQ but did not lead to toxic quinone-imines.