N-(5,5-diacetoxypent-1-yl)doxorubicin: a new intensely potent doxorubicin analogue.

N-(5,5-Diacetoxypent-1-yl)doxorubicin (DAPDOX) (3), a new, water-soluble analogue of doxorubicin, has been synthesized by coupling doxorubicin with 5-oxopentane-1,1-diacetate in the presence of NaBH3CN. This analogue was designed to be converted to the corresponding aldehyde, N-(5-oxopent-1-yl)doxorubicin, in the presence of carboxylate hydrolases, enzymes that are ubiquitous in tissue. DAPDOX had a half-life of several days in 0.05 M phosphate or 0.05 M acetate buffer solution at pH 4.0. However, in 0.05 M phosphate buffer at pH 7.4 in the presence of 20 unit equiv of porcine liver carboxylate esterase, the half-life of DAPDOX was less than 1 min. N-(5-acetoxypent-1-yl)doxorubicin (4), which should give rise to N-(5-hydroxypent-1-yl)doxorubicin on esterase-mediated hydrolysis, and N-(pent-1-yl)doxorubicin (5), were also prepared for comparative biological studies. DAPDOX was 150 times more potent than doxorubicin at inhibiting the growth of Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells in culture. The compound retained the same degree of potency against a CHO subline 100-fold resistant to doxorubicin (CHO/DOX) that expressed elevated levels of P-glycoprotein. Compounds 4 and 5, on the other hand, were no more effective than doxorubicin at inhibiting the growth of CHO cells and were 4-7-fold less potent against the CHO/DOX subline. DAPDOX is representative of a new structural class of doxorubicin analogues with unique chemical and biological properties.