virstatin virstatin virstatin is a small molecule that inhibits the activity of the cholera protein, toxt. virstatinidentifiers iupac name 4-(n-(1,8-naphthalimide))-n-butyric acid cas number88909-96-0 ypubchem cid145949chemspider128749chemblchembl403272comptox dashboard (epa)dtxsid10237406 chemical and physical dataformulac16h13no4molar mass283.283 g·mol−13d model (jsmol)interactive imagedensity1.40 g/cm3melting point180–183 °c (356–361 °f)boiling point536.52 °c (997.74 °f) smiles c1cc2cccc3c2c(c1)c(=o)n(c3=o)cccc(=o)o inchi inchi=1s/c16h13no4/c18-13(19)8-3-9-17-15(20)11-6-1-4-10-5-2-7-12(14(10)11)16(17)21/h1-2,4-7h,3,8-9h2,(h,18,19)key:zhxrdxtypcpbti-uhfffaoysa-n its activity in cholera was first published in 2005 in a paper that described the screening of a chemical library in a phenotypic screen and subsequent testing of one of the hits in infected mice. reaction scheme used in original discovery and analysis of the molecule the compound is an isoquinoline alkaloid and can be synthesized by a simple two-step synthesis