ABSTRACT
Lumefantrine (formerly benflumetol) is an arylaminoalcohol anti-malarial drug first synthesized at the Academy of Military Medical Science, Beijing, China, but with the earliest description of benflumetol in the English literature in 1990 (World Health Organization [WHO], 1990). The chemical structure (α–[dibutylaminomethyl]-2,7-dichloro-9[p-chlorobenzylidene]-4-fluorenemethanol) results in a molecular structure similar to that of the Cinchona alkaloids, the synthetic production process producing a 1:1 racemic mixture of dextrogyral and levogyral stereo-enantiomers. It is highly lipophilic and weakly basic and readily dissolves in nonpolar or aprotic organic solvents (Kotila et al., 2013).
