Fast-Killing Tyrosine Amide ((S)-SW228703) with Blood- and Liver-Stage Antimalarial Activity Associated with the Cyclic Amine Resistance Locus (PfCARL).

Current malaria treatments are threatened by drug resistance, and new drugs are urgently needed. In a phenotypic screen for new antimalarials, we identified (S)-SW228703 ((S)-SW703), a tyrosine amide with asexual blood and liver stage activity and a fast-killing profile. Resistance to (S)-SW703 is associated with mutations in the Plasmodium falciparum cyclic amine resistance locus (PfCARL) and P. falciparum acetyl CoA transporter (PfACT), similarly to several other compounds that share features such as fast activity and liver-stage activity. Compounds with these resistance mechanisms are thought to act in the ER, though their targets are unknown. The tyramine of (S)-SW703 is shared with some reported PfCARL-associated compounds; however, we observed that strict S-stereochemistry was required for the activity of (S)-SW703, suggesting differences in the mechanism of action or binding mode. (S)-SW703 provides a new chemical series with broad activity for multiple life-cycle stages and a fast-killing mechanism of action, available for lead optimization to generate new treatments for malaria.

BON-BONs: cyclic molecules with a boron-oxygen-nitrogen backbone. Computational studies of their thermodynamic properties.

Although they were first reported in 1963, molecules with a boron-oxygen-nitrogen dimeric backbone do not seem to have been investigated seriously in terms of thermodynamic properties. Here we report on the calculated structures and properties, including thermodynamics, of several so-called "BON-BON" molecules. With the popularity of nitrogen-containing substituents on new high-energy materials, nitro-substituted BON-BONs were a focus of our investigation. A total of 42 BON-BON molecules were evaluated, and thermochemical analysis shows a decrease in the specific enthalpy of combustion or decomposition with increasing NO(2) content, consistent with other systems.

Introducing NOB-NOBs: nitrogen-oxygen-boron cycles with potential high-energy properties.

As a follow-up on a study of a family of boron-oxygen-nitrogen compounds composed of two datively bonded B-O-N backbones, we investigate a similar series of compounds that have similar fragments but are covalently bonded. B3LYP/6-31G(d,p) quantum mechanical calculations have been performed to determine the minimum-energy geometries, vibrational frequencies, and thermochemical properties of the parent compound and a series of nitro-substituted derivatives. Our results indicate that some of the derivatives have at least appropriate thermodynamics for possible high-energy materials, in some cases being favorable over similar dimeric compounds with coordinate covalent B-N bonds.