Abstract: A series of novel 1,3,4-oxadiazole derivatives were synthesized under microwave irradiation and evaluated for antimalarial activity. Malaria is a major global public health problem, and the alarming spread of drug resistance and limited number of effective drugs now available underline how important it is to discover new antimalarial compounds. In South East Asia alone, 100 million malaria cases occur every year and 70% of these are reported from India (WHO 2004). The use of chloroquine (CQ) to prevent and treat falciparum malaria has led to the wide-spread appearance of CQ-resistant strains of Plasmodium falciparum throughout the affected regions. By performing antimalarial activity among the compounds tested 3a, 3d and 3e exhibited good antimalarial activity. The resistance has at the same time increasingly extended to other available antimalarial drugs. The increasing global spread of drug resistance to most of the available and affordable antimalarial drugs is a major concern and requires innovative strategies to combat the disease. There is an urgent need for new chemotherapeutic compounds, which are easy to administer and store, and which are of low cost.
