Synthesis and cytotoxicity of indolopyrrolemaleimides.

A series of indolopyrrolemaleimides have been synthesized and evaluated for their cytotoxicity in vitro against human leukemia cell line and four human solid cancer cell lines. Some of the compounds showed high or mediate activity against the lines. 6dc is the most promising compound among them. The inhibition toward topoisomerase I was also studied.