Synthetic and mechanistic studies of diazobenzofluorene natural products and analogs

ORGN 170

T. Eric Ballard and Christian Melander. Department of Chemistry, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC 27695
The mode-of-action for diazobenzofluorene natural products (i.e. kinamycins, lomaiviticin A) is ambiguous. Owing to the interesting diazo feature of these compounds, probing the biological mechanism for these compounds would provide useful information applicable to designing more potent and simplified analogues of these natural products. To this end, we have synthesized simple diazofluorene analogues that modulate the electronics of the diazo substituent and have studied the interaction of these molecules with DNA. In addition, we are developing a rapid and flexible approach to the various members of the diazobenzofluorene family.