Antitumor amino acid and peptide derivatives of 1,4-bis(aminoalkyl and hydroxy-aminoalkyl)amino)-5,8-dihydroxyanthraquinones

A compound selected from the group consisting of those of the formula:

• ##STR4## wherein m is an integer from 1 to 10, inclusive;
• W is hydrogen or .beta.-hydroxyethyl;
• L is hydrogen, carbobenzyloxy, tert.-butyloxycarbonyl or fluorenylmethoxycarbonyl;
• and each R group is an amino acid moiety independently selected from the group of D or L amino acids consisting of cysteine, leucine, isoleucine, phenylalanine, typrosine, proline, tryptophan, hydroxyproline, aspartic acid, asparagine, glutamic acid, glutamine, lysine, ornithine, arginine, histidine, alanine, glycine, methionine, valine, threonine and serine which are linked through amide bonds between the .alpha.-amino functionality of one amino acid and the carboxyl group of the adjacent amino acid and wherein any side-chain functionality may be substituted by protecting groups thereon;
• and the pharmacologically acceptable acid-addition salts thereof.