Soft drugs. 2. Soft alkylating compounds as potential antitumor agents.

Article abstract of DOI:10.1021/jm00179a018

A class of soft alkylating compounds as potential anticancer agents was developed. The first examples include alpha-halo esters of various carboxylic acids. A new method for quantitative evaluation of the alkylating reactivity was developed, using a competitive alkylation reactivity was developed, using a competitive alkylation reaction, followed by NMR analysis of the reaction mixture. The method is sensitive and reproducible. One of the two selected soft alkylating agents, chloromethyl hexanoate, was found to have anticancer activity.