Synthesis and antitumor activity of novel amsacrine analogs: the critical role of the acridine moiety in determining their biological activity.

A new series of N-[4-(2'-oxo-2H-pyrano[2,3-b]quinolin-5'-ylamino)-phenyl]-methanesulfonamides was prepared and analyzed as novel amsacrine-like derivatives. Our preliminary biological evaluation has shown that the replacement of the acridine moiety with the analogous 2-oxo-2H-pyrano[2,3-b]quinoline system drastically reduced both their anticancer activity and their propency to intercalate into double stranded DNA.