Synthesis and biological evaluation of cyclopropyl analogues of fosmidomycin as potent Plasmodium falciparum growth inhibitors

A series of fosmidomycin analogues featuring restricted conformational mobility has been synthesized and evaluated as inhibitors of 1-deoxy-D-xylulose 5-phosphate (DOXP) reductoisomerase and as growth inhibitors of P. falciparum. The enantiomerically pure trans-cyclopropyl N-acetyl analogue 3b showed comparable inhibitory activity as fosmidomycin toward E. coli DOXP reductoisomerase and proved equally active when tested in vitro for P. falciparum growth inhibition. Conversely, the alpha-phenyl cis-cyclopropyl analogue 4 showed virtually no inhibition of the enzyme.