A six-step synthesis of 2-hydroxy-7-methoxy-5-methylnaphthalene-1-carboxylic acid (2), the naphthoate moiety of neocarzinostatin chromophore (1), has been achieved.
Synthetic analogues (3-5, 8-10) of neocarzinostatin chromophore (1) are found to bind to the apoprotein with high affinity. Their binding energies suggest that the naphthoate moiety of 1 is essential for the binding, and that the CS-CH3 and C7-OCH3 groups are necessary for the high affinity.