New hydrosoluble perylene and coronene derivatives

Several lipophilic perylene and coronene derivatives, employed mainly as liquid crystalline dyes are known and their synthesis has been widely studied. We have applied an analogue strategy using hydrophilic substituents to obtain highly water soluble perylene diimides (4) and a new hydrosoluble coronene derivative (CORON, 6), whose molecular features appear particularly suitable for inducing G-quadruplex DNA structures and inhibiting human telomerase. (C) 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.