New anthracycline glycosides obtained by the nitrous acid deamination of daunorubicin, doxorubicin and their configurational analogues.

Abstract
The new anthracyclines 7-O-(2,3,5-trideoxy-3-C-formyl-.alpha.-L-threo-pentofuranosyl)daunomycinone (8) and -adriamycinone (10) have been obtained upon nitrous acid deamination of daunorubicin and doxorubicin respectively. Deamination of the L-ribo analogue of daunorubicin (6) gave a mixture of 2,3,6-trideoxy-L-glycero-hexopyranosid-4-ulose (.alpha.-L-cinerulosyl) (11) and 2,6-dideoxy-.alpha.-L-arabino-hexopyranosyl (12) glycosides. The corresponding adriamycinone glycosides 13 and 14, obtained by deamination of the doxorubicin L-ribo analogue 7, were found to display an outstanding antileukemic activity in mice.