SPECTROELECTROCHEMICAL AND THEORETICAL STUDY OF THE REDOX ACTIVATION OF ANTHRAQUINONE ANTITUMORAL DRUG MITOXANTRONE

摘要

Mitoxantrone (Fig.1) is an aminoanthraquinone,structurally related to doxorubicin - an anthracyclin antibiotic,used as an antitumoral drug due to its interaction with DNA (1,2).However,besides their benefic action,these drugs possess also an undesirable toxicity.The generally accepted mechanism for this process implies the mono or bielectronic reduction of the drug with the appearance of intermediate species which may mediate the electron transfer to molecular oxygen,forming the superoxide anion radical and other reactive oxygen species,responsible for the cellular damage and cardiotoxicity (3 - 5).This process is usually called "reductive activation" of the drug.