Cancer, as defined by the Webster dictionary, is “a malignant tumor of potentially unlimited growth that expands locally by invasion and systemically by metastasis”(3). One of the worst diseases that mankind has ever had is cancer. Cancer defeats the patient physically and mentally and it takes thousands of dollars and various methods to treat cancer. Although there are methods to treat cancer such as chemotherapy, radiation, hormone treatments, newer targeted therapies and immunotherapies the goal of this project is to create a more effective anti-tumor drug. This drug ,O-(4-methyl)-phenyl-N-(9’acridnyl)-hydroxylamine, is a 9-aminoacridine based compound with proven anti-tumor properties. Chemotherapy drugs kill the cancer cells by inhibiting different steps of cell division. O-(4-methyl)-phenyl-N-(9’acridnyl)-hydroxylamine is a DNA intercalate which inserts itself between the DNA strands during cell division (mitosis) and arrests the cell cycle, which leads to apoptosis, cell death. O-(4-methyl)-phenyl-N-(9’acridnyl)-hydroxylamine affects both healthy and cancerous cells, however, cancer cells divide rapidly, and are therefore are more susceptible to damage from the drug than normal cells.
There have been derivatives of 9-aminoacridine, which have been synthesized and tested for their antitumor properties in vitro, but many of these DNA intercalating drugs undergo hydrolysis when used in vivo, and are therefore ineffective. The objective of this research is to synthesize the drug O-(4-methyl)-phenyl-N-(9’acridnyl)-hydroxylamine, which would be less prone to hydrolysis in vivo, and therefore more effective in small doses. So far no scholarly research has been done about synthesizing the drug, O-(4-methyl)-phenyl-N-(9’acridnyl)-hydroxylamine, so the question is can this drug be synthesized cost effectively, will it be less prone to hydrolysis, and will it have the desired anti-tumor properties?