N-phosphoryl derivatives of bisantrene. Antitumor prodrugs with enhanced solubility and reduced potential for toxicity.

The selective phosphorylation of bisantrene (1) affords bis(phosphonoguanidinic acid) 6, a prodrug with enhanced aqueous solubility (as sodium salt 7) at physiological pH. Unlike 1, in a rat tail vein model, no precipitation was observed when bis(phosphonoguanidinic acid) 6 was injected. While in rats 6 hydrolyzed to monophosphonoguanidinic acid 9 with a half-life of ca. 12 min., complete hydrolysis to bisantrene required several hours. The corresponding monophosphonoguanidinic acid 9 was synthesized from bisantrene and also showed good solubility and antitumor activity. While the antitumor activities of 6 in mice were comparable to bisantrene against B-16 melanoma and P-388 and L-1210 leukemias, it was inactive in vitro vs several tumor cell types. Thus, its activity in vivo resulted from its ability to serve as a prodrug for bisantrene.