Potential anticancer agents. XX. 2. Quantitative structure--activity relationships (QSAR) in aromatic nitrogen mustards area

Quantitative structure--activity relationships have been fomulated for 27 aromatic nitrogen mustards derived from benzoic acids (9 monosubstituted and 18 disubstituted derivatives). Their toxicity (LD50) and antitumor activity against Jensen sarcoma were correlated with hydrolysis rate (log k66) lipophilicity constants (pi) and steric parameters (MDT). The chemical reactivity of the nitrogen mustard moiety (expressed as log k66) seems to be of main importance in determining the biological properties of these derivatives. The favorable effect of ortho-substitution was pointed out. Generally these results are in good agreement with those obtained by HANSCH et al. [7] on a different series of nitrogen mustards.