Abstract
Research on polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and their derivatives has received significant attention from the scientific community. The present study involved the synthesis of several novel 6,12-disubstituted chrysene derivatives. Nitration of chrysene with nitric acid produced 6,12-dinitrochrysene which when reduced yielded 6,12-diaminochrysene. A coupling reaction of 6,12-diaminochrysene with an acid in the presence of isobutylchloroformate produced amide. The reduction of amide produced an amine. The amino was converted to a hydrochloride salt. The new compounds were characterized through different types of analytical data. One of these compounds demonstrated marked activity in vivo against a colon cancer cell line. Inhibition of the growth of this tumor was best noted at day 20 when each treatment regimen inhibited the average tumor volume by 50%. In a number of in vivo tests in various regimens, the hydrochloride salt demonstrated consistent inhibition of the growth of the cancer HT-29 cell line. Despite the research progress in polycyclic aromatic compounds, the use of these types of molecules as anticancer agents has not been reported systematically.