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Chagas disease (CD) still represents a serious public health problem in Latin America, even after more than 100 years of its discovery. Clinical treatments (nifurtimox and benznidazole) are considered inadequate, especially because of undesirable side effects and low efficacy in the chronic stages of the disease, highlighting the urgency for discovering new effective and safe drugs. A small library of compounds (1a–i and 2a–j) was designed based on the structural optimization of a Hit compound derived from 1,4-naphthoquinones (C2) previously identified. The biological activity, structure-activity relationship (SAR), and the in silico physicochemical profiles of the naphthoquinone derivatives were analyzed. Most modifications resulted in increased trypanocidal activity but some substitutions also increased toxicity. The data reinforce the importance of the chlorine atom in the thiophenol benzene ring for trypanocidal activity, highlighting 1g, which exhibit a drug-likeness profile, as a promising compound against Trypanosoma cruzi. SAR analysis also revealed 1g as cliff generator in the structure-activity similarity map (SAS maps). However, compounds C2 and 1g were unable to reduce parasite load, and did not prevent mouse mortality in T. cruzi acute infection. Phenotypic screening and computational analysis have provided relevant information to advance the optimization and design of new 1,4-naphthoquinone derivatives with a better pharmacological profile. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We report herein a straightforward and efficient one-step reaction to prepare new nor-β-lapachone derivatives tethered with phenylthio groups at position 3 of the furan ring. We have screened the compounds on bloodstream trypomastigotes of Trypanosoma cruzi , the causative agent of Chagas disease, aimed at finding a new prototype with high trypanocidal activity. The new compounds possess a broad range of activity (IC 50 /24 h from 9.2 to 182.7 μM), higher than the original quinone (391.5 μM) and four of them higher than standard drug benznidazole (103.6 μM). The most active was compound 13b (9.2 μM), being 11 times active than benznidazole and the less toxic derivative to heart muscle cells. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]