Is alkylation the main mechanism of action of the antimalarial drug artemisinin?

Artemisinin is a sesquiterpene lactone with an endoperoxide function essential for its antimalarial activity against chloroquine-resistant strains of Plasmodium falciparum. The mechanism of action of this paradigm molecule for endoperoxide-containing antimalarial drugs is still open to debate, Are the artemisinin derivatives only responsible for oxidative stress or are they able to alkylate heme and parasite proteins? The characterization of a covalent artemisininheme model adduct supports the role of C-centered radicals generated by the reductive activation of the peroxidic bond of this class of drugs. Artemether (an artemisinin analogue) and BO7 (a synthetic antimalarial trioxane) are also able to alkylate a porphyrin cycle.