Two series of ten novel 7-nitroquinoxalin-2-ones and ten 6-nitroquinoxaline-2,3-diones with diverse substituents at positions 1 and 4 were synthesized and evaluated against the sexually transmitted parasite Trichomonas vaginalis. Furthermore, diverse molecular and drug-likeness properties were analyzed to predict the oral bioavailability following the Lipinski's "rule of five". 7-Nitroquinoxalin-2-one derivatives displayed moderate to high in vitro activity while the efficiency of most nitroquinoxaline-2,3-diones was rather low; both kinds of compounds did not show cytotoxic effects in mammalian cells. 7-Nitro-4-(3-piperidinopropyl)quinoxalin-2-one 9 achieved the highest trichomonacidal activity (IC50 = 18.26 μM) and was subsequently assayed in vivo in a murine model of trichomonosis. A 46.13% and a 50.70% reduction of pathogenic injuries were observed in the experimental groups treated orally during 7 days with 50 mg/kg and 100 mg/kg doses. The results obtained in the biological assays against T. vaginalis indicate that compounds with ω-(dialkylamino)alkyl substituents and a keto group at positions 4 and 2 of quinoxaline ring, respectively, provide interesting structural cores to develop novel prototypes to enhance the nitroquinoxalinones activity as trichomonacidal agents with interesting ADME properties according to virtual screening analysis.
Keywords: Antiprotozoal drugs; Lipinski's rule; Nitroheterocycles; Quinoxaline; Trichomonas vaginalis.
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