Introducing the mercaptoethyl group at the 7-N position of mitomycin C 1 has led to the isolation of 7-N,7'-N'-dithiodiethylenedimitomycin C 2. The compound 2 showed excellent antitumoractivity against sarcoma 180 (sc-ip) and leukemia P388 (ip-ip) in mice. As an extension of this study, we synthesized mitomycin dimers with symmetrical disulfide and mitomycin derivatives with unsymmetrical disulfide
The reaction between mitomycin A (1) and cysteamine afforded 7-N,7'-N'-bis(2-thioethyl)dimitomycin C (7), 7-N-[2-[(2-aminoethyl)dithio]ethyl]mitomycin C (8), and 7-methoxy mitosenes (10, 11). The structures of 7 and 8 were elucidated on the basis of spectroscopy and reactions between 1 and 8, and 1 and cystamine. The observation of the time course for the reaction revealed the mechanism of the formation