Easily synthesized antimalarial ferrocene triazacyclononane quinoline conjugates

Starting from triazacyclononane, easily accessible ferrocenic quinoline derivatives were synthesized. Their antiplasmodial properties were investigated against chloroquine sensitive (HB3) and chloroquine-resistant (Dd2) Plasmodium falciparum. One of them, 7-chloro-4-[4-(7-chloro-4-quinolyl)-7-ferrocenylmethyl-1,4,7- triazacyclononan-1-yl]quinoline (4) showed potent antimalarial activity in vitro against the chloroquine-resistant strain Dd2 and therefore revealed to be the most promising lead from the present work for new organometallic antimalarial agents.