Synthesis of ellipticine and its pharmacologically more efficient derivative 13-hydroxyellipticine

Ellipticine (5,11-dimethyl-6H-pyrido[4,3-b]carbazole) is plant alcaloid isolated from Ochrosia elliptica1) (Apocyanaceae). Ellipticine's anticancer effect is mainly caused by its intercalation into DNA, formation of covalent adduct with DNA and inhibition of topoisomerase II. Known syntheses of ellipticine are based on chemicals containing two or three aromatic cycles that are used in cyklisation and/or addition reaction to get ellipticine or ellipticine derivates. 13- hydroxyellipticine can be prepared de novo as a product of casual ellipticine synthesis, or as a modification of already synthetised ellipticine. Keywords: ellipticine; synthesis; derivates of ellipticin