Syntheses and antimalarial activities of 10-substituted deoxoartemisinins.

Two series of 10-substituted deoxoartemisinin derivatives have been synthesized. The first employed the reaction of dihydroartemisinin acetate with several silyl enol ethers in the presence of titanium tetrachloride. The second utilized the reaction of 10-(2-oxoethyl)deoxoartemisinin with several Grignard reagents. The in vitro antimalarial activities of both series were determined against two drug-resistant clones of P. falciparum. The activities of 13 beta and 15 beta were 5-7 times greater than that of artemisinin.