Hydroxynaphthoquinone metal complexes

Gokhale et al. [72] have synthesized a series of hydroxynaphthoquinone metal complexes as antitumor agents. The cytotoxic studies against the human breast cancer cell line MCF-7 revealed enhanced activities for the metal complexes. The highest activity is observed for the copper compound of lawsone, Fig. (12) (2-hydroxy-l,4-naphthoquinone). 

The classical forerunner of metallizable hydroxyanthraquinones was alizarin (1), which was widely used in the production of very fast, bright red shades on cotton by the mordant technique (Section 58.1). Early studies by Pfeiffer140 demonstrated that metal complex formation involved the carbonyl group and the a-hydroxy group (208) rather than the two hydroxy groups and led to intensive research on metal complexes of 1 -hydroxyanthraquinones and related compounds such as 8-hydroxynaphthoquinone. This is the subject of a number of reviews3a Jc141 and will only be considered briefly here. 

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See also in sourсe #XX -- [ , ]

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