Evaluation of differential hypoxic cytotoxicity and electrochemical studies of nitro 5-deazaflavins

Cytotoxicities of nitro 5-deazaflavins were evaluated in vitro towards hypoxic and oxic Chinese hamster cells (V79). 6-Nitro and 8-nitro derivatives were generally more toxic towards hypoxic cells than oxic cells, showing marked hypoxic selectivity. In contrast, 7-nitro and 9-nitro derivatives showed no significant hypoxic selectivity. Electrochemical study using cyclic voltammetry (CV) revealed that 6-nitro and 8-nitro derivatives generate a stable two electrons reduction product as well as a stable one electron reduction product and that 7-nitro and 9-nitro derivatives afford an unstable one electron reduction product. These results strongly support that not solely electron affinity but also stability of the one electron reduction products is crucial for the differential hypoxic cytotoxicities of nitro 5-deazaflavins.