The design, synthesis and evaluation of a pentacyclic scaffold, CWO-324 to mimic saframycin A is described. CWO-324 is readily synthesized in five steps from 1,4-diacetyl-piperazine-2,5-dione and 2,5-dimethoxybenzaldehyde. CWO-324 was found to scission DNA, binds to bases 69–83(5′-GCAGTCAGG CACCGT-3′) of Hind III/Rsa I from plasmid pBR322 DNA in a foot-printing study and possesses anti-tumor activity.
