Chemical modification of the antitumor antibiotic glidobactin.

A variety of glidobactin analogs modified at the fatty acid, L-threonine and nucleus moieties of the molecule were synthesized and their structure-activity relationships examined. The antitumor and antifungal activity was greatly influenced by modification of the fatty acid glidobactin, with the dodecanoyl and tetradecanoyl analogs exhibiting better antitumor activity than the parent antibiotics. Replacement of the L-threonine with other amino acids greatly reduced the activity and reduction of the double bond of the nucleus completely eliminated the biological activity of glidobactin.