The synthesis of a series of 1-amino-substituted pyrido [4, 3-b] carbazole derivatives, based on the substitution of corresponding 1-chloroellipticines, is reported. The cytotoxic properties on tumor cells grown in vitro, the in vivo acute toxicity of the most potent in vitro cytotoxic compounds, and the antitumor properties toward the L1210 leukemia system are described. No correlation between the apparent association constant to DNA and the in vitro ...