Pyrrolobenzodiazepine

Pyrrolobenzodiazepines or PBDs, a class of natural products with antibiotic or anti-tumor properties, are produced by various actinomycetes (a broad group of bacteria that form thread-like filaments in the soil and are responsible for the distinctive scent of freshly exposed, moist soil), are sequence selective DNA alkylating compounds with significant antitumor properties. As a class of DNA-crosslinking agents they are significantly more potent than systemic chemotherapeutic drugs. Some PBDs have the ability to recognize and bond to specific sequences of DNA.