Bioorganic & Medicinal Chemistry Letters\Volume 7\Issue 9

A series of hybrid molecules (14–16) combining certain structural features of both 4-quinolone antimicrobial inhibitors of DNA gyrase and anthracycline inhibitors of mammalian topoisomerase II were prepared synthetically in six chemical steps from digiferrol dimethyl ether (3). The resulting hybrids were, unfortunately, inactive against both bacteria and mammalian cells as well as purified topoisomerases at doses where ciprofloxacin and doxorubicin are highly active.