Aryl and Acyclic Unsaturated Derivatives of Thioguanine and 6- Mercaptopurine: Synthesis and Cytotoxic Activity

A series of aryl and acyclic unsaturated chloromethyl derivatives of thioguanine and 6-mercaptopurine 1-20 were synthesized. These compounds were evaluated for cytotoxic activity against NCI-60 DTP human tumor cell line screen at 10µ Molar concentration. Compound 1 exhibited potent cytotoxic activity with GI50 values 1 - 7 µ Molar range for most human tumor cell lines. Further, compounds 6, 9, 16 exhibited highly significant GI50 values 1 - 3 µ Molar range throghout the entire spectrum of the 60 cell line screen including the colon cancer and CNS cancer. Other compounds exhibited moderate activity.