Optimization of 1,4-Naphthoquinone Hit Compound: A Computational, Phenotypic, and In Vivo Screening against .

Chagas disease (CD) still represents a serious public health problem in Latin America, even after more than 100 years of its discovery. Clinical treatments (nifurtimox and benznidazole) are considered inadequate, especially because of undesirable side effects and low efficacy in the chronic stages of the disease, highlighting the urgency for discovering new effective and safe drugs. A small library of compounds (- and -) was designed based on the structural optimization of a Hit compound derived from 1,4-naphthoquinones (C2) previously identified.