Herein we report on the semisynthesis and biological evaluation of β-amino alcohol derivatives of the natural product totarol and other simple aromatic systems. All β-amino alcohol derivatives of totarol exhibited higher antiplasmodial activity than totarol [IC50: 11.69 μM (K1, chloroquine and multi-drug resistant strain), and 11.78 μM (D10, chloroquine sensitive strain)]—12e was the most active [IC50: 0.63 μM (K1), and 0.61 μM (D10)]. The ...