Bolaforms with Fourteen Galactose Units:  A Proposed Site-Directed Cohesion of Cancer Cells

The multistep synthesis of a calixarene joined to a second calixarene via a long spacer is described. Since each calixarene bears multiple galactose-based units (known to bind strongly to rat hepatoma cells), there existed the possibility of cross-linking the cancer cells into a network. The compounds did not serve this purpose, a fact potentially correctable by adjusting or rigidifying the spacer. Formation of a “cancer net” around a solid tumor remains a viable approach to retarding growth and/or inhibiting metastasis.