Synthesis and antitumor activity of ciprofloquinolone bis-(C3/C7 hydrazone)s

To further explore an efficient route for the development of antitumor fluoroquinolone agents,acylhydrazone and hydrazone as isosteric replacements corresponding to C-3 carboxylic acid group and C-7 piperazine group for ciprofloxacin resulted in ten novel title compounds,thus 1-cycloproyl-6-fluoro-7-(substituted)-N′-benzylidene hydrazine-3-(substituted) benzylidene-hydrazino-carbonyl-quinolin-4(1H)-ones( 3a-3j ),which were synthesized with their structures characterized by corresponding spectral data.The in vitro antitumor activity against L1210,CHO and HL60 cell lines was significantly higher potency than that of parent ciprofloxacin,suggesting that it is unnecessary for an antitumor fluoroquinolone to retain a C-3 carboxyl and a C-7 piperazine ring.