Highly stable phenanthridinium frameworks as a new class of tunable DNA binding agents with cytotoxic properties

  • J Med Chem. 2005 Jul 14;48(14):4504-6. doi: 10.1021/jm050320z.
Alexis D C Parenty  1 ,  Louise V Smith ,  Kevin M Guthrie ,  De-Liang Long ,  Jane Plumb ,  Robert Brown ,  Leroy Cronin
Affiliations
  • 1. Department of Chemistry, The University of Glasgow, Joseph Black Building, UK.
PMID: 15999988 DOI: 10.1021/jm050320z
Abstract

A new class of cytotoxic heteroaromatic cations is presented, based on the dihydro-imidazo-phenanthridinium framework (DIP), that have affinity for DNA and cytotoxicity toward cancerous cells. The DIP framework is particularly tunable due to the flexible synthetic methodology. Furthermore, the central moiety has proved to be very stable to hydrolysis and reduction compared to Other phenanthridinium-based agents.