Abstract:
Antileishmanial activities of 16 synthetic oximino benzocycloalkyl azoles against Leishmania donovani were evaluated in vitro against extracellular promastigotes and intracellular amastigotes. Based on SI (Selectivity Index), 5 compounds were tested further in vivo in hamster model. Out of these, three compounds have shown medium activity (53-58%) and one has shown significant inhibition of parasite multiplication (70%). Despite the fact that these compounds were better than the existing antileishmanials in respect to IC50 and SI values, they were less active than miltefosine in vivo . The present study has helped us in identifying a new lead that could be exploited as a potential antileishmanial agent.