Synthesis and evaluation of 2-chloroethylnitrosoureas of substituted naphthalimides as mixed-function anticancer...

New mixed function anticancer compounds as 2-chloroethylnitrosoureas of substituted naphthalimides represented by bromonap-NU 4a and chloronap-NU 4b, have been synthesized from 4-bromo- and 4-chloro-l,8-naphthalic anhydride, respectively following a 3-step process. Their chemical alkylating activity compared with nor -HN2 indicated that they possess greater alkylating activity than the latter. Their antitumour efficacies were assessed in vivo in two murine ascites tumours, namely Ehrlich ascites carcinoma (EAC) and Sarcoma-180 (S-180) by measuring the increase in median survival times (MST) of drug treated (T) over untreated control (C) mice. Two standard clinical drugs namely endoxan (cyclophosphamide) and 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) were used as positive controls for comparison. Both of them have displayed substantial and reproducible antitumoral activity in these tumours comparable with 5-FU. These were further screened in vitro in 6 different human tumour cell lines but no significant activity was observed in those lines.