MINI REVIEW article
Front. Chem.
Sec. Medicinal and Pharmaceutical Chemistry
Volume 13 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fchem.2025.1645334
This article is part of the Research TopicQuinoline as Lead Structures for the Development of Leishmanicidal AgentsView all 8 articles
Quinolines: The Role of Substitution Site in Antileishmanial Activity
Provisionally accepted
Guadalupe García Liñares1,2*
Orlando Germán Elso1,2*- 1Universidad de Buenos Aires Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Buenos Aires, Argentina
- 2UMYMFOR, Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Cientificas y Tecnicas, Buenos Aires, Argentina
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Leishmaniasis is one of the most widespread parasitic diseases in the world, primarily affecting the poorest and most vulnerable populations. The development of new therapeutic agents that are more efficient, safe, and selective remains a challenge. The quinoline framework emerges as a privileged scaffold for this purpose. This mini-review comprehensively analyses advancements from the last two decades on 2-, 3-, 6-, and 8-substituted quinolines, as well as polysubstituted analogues, as potential antileishmanial agents, focusing on how the position and nature of substituents influence their activity. Although the assays were conducted in different Leishmania species, 2-and 6-substituted quinolones generally show greater activity, often enhanced by the presence of halogen or hydroxyl groups.
Keywords: Quinolines, Antiprotozoal activity, Substitution, Antileishmanial agents, Leishmaniasis
Received: 11 Jun 2025; Accepted: 27 Aug 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 García Liñares and Elso. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Guadalupe García Liñares, Universidad de Buenos Aires Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Buenos Aires, Argentina
Orlando Germán Elso, Universidad de Buenos Aires Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Buenos Aires, Argentina
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