Synthesis and evaluation of new antitumor 3-aminomethyl-4,11-dihydroxynaphtho[2,3-f]indole-5,10-diones.

A series of new 3-aminomethyl-4,11-dihydroxynaphtho[2,3-f]indole-5,10-diones 6-13 bearing the cyclic diamine in the position 3 of the indole ring was synthesized. The majority of new compounds demonstrated a superior cytotoxicity than doxorubicin against a panel of mammalian tumor cells with determinants of altered drug response, that is, Pgp expression or p53 inactivation. For naphtho[2,3-f]indole-5,10-diones 6-9 bearing 3-aminopyrrolidine in the side chains, the ability to bind double-stranded DNA and inhibit topoisomerases 1 and 2 mediated relaxation of supercoiled DNA were demonstrated.