# SYNTHESIS OF ANTHRACYCLINONES

> **NIH NIH R01** · UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO · 1988 · $127,040

## Abstract

A general synthetic strategy is presented for the synthesis of several
anthracyclinones based on the reactions of chromium carbene complexes with
acetylenes.  The synthetic targets include the aglycones of daunorubicin
and adriamycin which are important chemotherapeutic agents for the
treatment of a broad range of human cancers.  The strategy is flexible to
allow for the synthesis of both the 11-oxy and the 11-deoxy
anthracyclinones and we propose to develop from it a convergent synthesis
for these two major classes of anthracyclinones.  The 11-deoxy
anthracyclinones have been of more recent interest due to the finding that
some members of this class have comparable activity to that of adriamycin
but with a reduced level of cardiotoxicity.  It is proposed to synthesize
the aglycone of aclacinomycin and 7-con-o-methylnogarol, a semi-synthetic
derivative of nogalamycin, which was developed by UpJohn Company.  This
compound, now known as menogarol, has recently been approved for phase II
of human clinical trials.  Preliminary results indicate that this strategy
is flexible enough to provide for the regioselective synthesis of several
unnatural mono fluoro derivatives of aklavinone.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 3170865
- **Project number:** 5R01CA032974-06
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO
- **SAM.gov UEI:** ZUE9HKT2CLC9
- **Principal Investigator:** WILLIAM Dean WULFF
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 1988
- **Award amount:** $127,040
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 1983-05-01 → 1989-04-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/3170865

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 3170865, SYNTHESIS OF ANTHRACYCLINONES (5R01CA032974-06). Retrieved via MORVS 2026-10-25 from https://api.morvs.ai/grant/nih/3170865. Licensed CC0.

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