Optimizing Chloroquine to Make a Better Drug to Fight Malaria Essay

Optimizing Chloroquine to Make a Better Drug to Fight MalariaAbstract Malaria has haunted man for centuries. Humanities experiments in drugsallowed for the discovery of chloroquine, perhaps the most palmy cure against theparasitic infection. However, a new stochastic variable of malaria, plasmodium falciparum, hasproven to be resistant against chloroquine and other cures we have for this lethaldisease. Should man then make aside this age-old drug? Not before trying to optimize itto once again combat malaria.There has been a disease that has never been all in all assessed norunderstood, yet it has been a scourge to humanity for centuries. Consequently, it hasnever quite been fought off. Malaria has haunted man for millennium, and even todaywe are really unable to claim conquest over it, as it still infects millions of victims everyyear, killing close to a million each year (WebMed). How then has malaria been nearlyeradicated in North the States and Europe? There are drugs that f ight malaria, the mostfamous of which is probably chloroquine, one of the oldest drugs made by man.Chloroquine is one of now several drugs that have fought malaria to the tropics, only if nowhas become almost useless against a new, drug resistant strain of malaria, Plasmodiumfalciparum. P. falciparum has perhaps come to claim the title of the most virulent strainof malaria as well. Today it is certainly the deadliest, requiring specialized treatment thatmight not exist in the poorer tropic regions where it is most rampant. Even now,research against this strain of malaria is ongoing, in the hope to find a cure. Where canthis be found? One of the most explored methods is optimizing the drugs we have,particularly chloroquine. I... ... I made in GaussView should not be considered the only oreven the best changes. For instance, replacing all the nitrogens with oxygens, Icompletely changed how it would react to acidic conditions. The extra rings I addedincreased the molecular(a) weight, in some cases to huge proportions that violatedlipinskis rules. By changing the way this molecule bonds, very likely I made this drugvery poisonous. It could take over years, but eventually this drug could be optimized to fightplasmodium again. Perhaps humanitys defense against malaria will again come fromthis nearly antique drug.Plasmodium in the blood.Bibliographyweblogs.madrimasd.org/images/weblogs_madrimasWebMed. Malaria. July 12, 2008Westerfield, Scott. Peeps. Razorbill, 2006.Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Chloroquine. July 16, 2008.Zimmer, Carl. Parasite Rex. Simon and Schuster, 2000.