Antiplasmodial Activity of Naphthoquinones Related to Lapachol and β‐Lapachone

The in vitro antiplasmodial activity of 26 naphthoquinone derivatives related to the natural lapachol (1) and β-lapachone (2) was tested. Ten of these derivatives are reported for the first time. The evaluation was performed on cultures of F 32 strain of Plasmodium falciparum, and some derivatives displayed attractive in vitro activities (IC 5 0 < 10 μM). Based on these results, some structure-activity relationships have been determined.