New polyethyleneglycol-functionalized texaphyrins: synthesis and in vitro biological studies

The synthesis of four new analogues of motexafin gadolinium (MGd), a gadolinium(III) texaphyrin complex in clinical trials for its anticancer properties, is described. These new derivatives contain either 1,2-diaminobenzene or 2,3-diaminonaphthalene subunits as the source of the imine nitrogens and bear multiple 2-[2-(2-methoxyethoxy)ethoxy]ethoxy (PEG) groups, on either meso aryl or beta-pyrrolic substituents, to increase their water solubility. All four analogues were found to be more active in vitro than the parent system MGd as judged from cell proliferation assays using the PC3 and A549 cell lines.