Discovery of 2-(1H-imidazo-2-yl)piperazines as a new class of potent and non-cytotoxic inhibitors of Trypanosoma brucei growth in vitro

The identification of a new series of growth inhibitors of Trypanosoma brucei rhodesiense, causative agent of Human African Trypanosomiasis (HAT), is described. A selection of compounds from our in-house compound collection was screened in vitro against the parasite leading to the identification of compounds with nanomolar inhibition of T. brucei growth. Preliminary SAR on the hit compound led to the identification of compound 34 that shows low nanomolar parasite growth inhibition (T. brucei EC_{50} 5 nM), is not cytotoxic (HeLa CC_{50} > 25,000 nM) and is selective over other parasites, such as Trypanosoma cruzi and Plasmodium falciparum (T. cruzi EC_{50} 8120 nM, P. falciparum EC_{50} 3624 nM).