Synthesis and biological activity of AHMA-EDTA conjugates

Three types of 9-anilinoacridine-EDTA (AHMA-EDTA) conjugates in which the amino group of 3-(9-acridinylamino)-5-hydroxymethylaniline (AHMA, an potential DNA-topoisomerase II-mediated anticancer agent) has been linked to EDTA either directly (AHMA-EDTA) or with a short hydrocarbon tether such as glycine (AHMA-Gly-EDTA) and γ-amino butyric acid (AHMA-GABA-EDTA) were synthesized for evaluation of their antitumor and DNA cleavage activities.