Abstract A substantial challenge worldwide is emergent drug resistance in malaria parasites against approved drugs, such as chloroquine (CQ). To address these unsolved CQ resistance issues, only rare examples of artemisinin (ART)‐based hybrids have been reported. Moreover, protein targets of such hybrids have not been identified yet, and the reason for the superior efficacy of these hybrids is still not known. Herein, we report the synthesis of novel ART–isoquinoline and ART–quinoline hybrids showing highly improved potencies against CQ‐resistant and multidrug‐resistant P. falciparum strains (EC 50 (Dd2) down to 1.0 n m ; EC 50 (K1) down to 0.78 n m ) compared to CQ (EC 50 (Dd2)=165.3 n m ; EC 50 (K1)=302.8 n m ) and strongly suppressing parasitemia in experimental malaria. These new compounds are easily accessible by step‐economic C−H activation and copper(I)‐catalyzed azide–alkyne cycloaddition (CuAAC) click reactions. Through chemical proteomics, putatively hybrid‐binding protein targets of the ART‐quinolines were successfully identified in addition to known targets of quinoline and artemisinin alone, suggesting that the hybrids act through multiple modes of action to overcome resistance. ARTful hybrids : Artemisinin (ART)‐based hybrids that are highly potent against CQ/drug‐sensitive and multidrug‐resistant parasites and of strong efficacy in experimental malaria were synthesized. New putatively hybrid‐binding proteins, in addition to known target proteins of quinoline and artemisinin, were identified by chemical proteomics, suggesting that the hybrids act through multiple modes of action to overcome resistance.
【저자키워드】 proteomics, Artemisinin, drug resistance, hybridization, antimalarial agents,