User:Justinyyan/Saframycin
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Saframycins are a group of antitumor antibiotics belonging to the Tetrahydroisoquinoline family.[1] Initially discovered by Arai et al. in 1977, more than 20 species have been discovered over the years.[2]
![Thumb image](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d5/Tetrahydroisoquinoline-structure.svg/640px-Tetrahydroisoquinoline-structure.svg.png)
The family is characterized by their dimeric heterocyclic quinone skeleton.[3] They generally have low solubility in water and n-hexane, moderate solubility in ether and high solubility in lower alcohols, chloroform and acetone.[4] They show varying degrees of antimicrobial properties with a bias of greater effects on gram-positive bacteria, and are generally effective against L1210 leukaemia.[4][5][6][7][8]They also display activities against a variety of diseases such as Ehrlich ascites carcinoma, P388 leukaemia and B16 Melanoma. [4][5][6][7][8]
The Saframycin compounds are currently not clinically prescribed for chemotherapy or otherwise due to their high toxicity, but their derivatives show potential as anti-tumour agents and are going through clinical trials.[9][10][11]