In vitro activities of new 2-substituted quinolines against Leishmania donovani.

A series of 9 quinolines and 18 styrylquinolines was evaluated for the drugs' in vitro antileishmanial activities and cytotoxicities. The 7-aroylstyrylquinoline scaffold appeared to be the most promising one, with the most interesting compound, no. 35, exhibiting a 50% inhibitory concentration (IC(50)) of 1.2 μM and a selectivity index value of 121.5. Compound 35 was 10-fold and 8-fold more active than miltefosine and sitamaquine, the reference compounds, with selectivity indexes 607-fold and 60-fold higher, respectively.