Preparation of 5-(2,6-dideoxy-2-fluoro-alpha-L-talopyranosyloxy)-6-hydroxynap htho[2,3- f]quinoline-7,12-dione (FT-Alz), a new-type, potentially antitumor substance with various biological activities.

The title compound (6), its structure being imaginatively created, has been prepared through coupling of alizarine blue (2), a classical dye, and 3,4-di-O-acetyl-2,6-dideoxy-2-fluoro-alpha-L-talopyranosyl bromide (3). Compound 6 has considerably higher and different antitumor activity from that of doxorubicin or its analogue (10), and, further, has properties to reverse multidrug resistance (by P-glycoprotein), to inhibit topoisomerase II, and to induce apoptosis.