Anthracycline antitumour agents. A review of physicochemical, analytical and stability properties.

A review of physicochemical and analytical properties of anthracycline antitumour agents is presented. The following subjects are discussed: protolytic equilibria, partition and partition coefficients, self-association, adsorptive properties, metal complexation, spectroscopy and chromatography. Furthermore, the stability of anthracyclines in solutions, in pharmaceutical preparations and in biological media is discussed.