The acridone alkaloid acronycine, isolated from several Sarcomelicope species (Rutaceae) was shown to exhibit a promising activity against a broad spectrum of solid tumors. Nevertheless, clinical trials only gave poor results, probably due to the moderate potency of this drug. The isolation of the unstable acronycine epoxide from several New-Caledonian Sarcomelicope led us to a hypothesis of bioactivation of acronycine by transformation of the 1,2-double bond into the corresponding oxirane in vivo. Consequently, we synthesized a series of cis-1,2-dihydroxy-1,2-dihydroacronycine diesters which exhibited interesting antitumor properties with a broadened spectrum of activity and an increased potency when compared with acronycine. The demonstration that acronycine should interact with DNA, by some noncovalent process prompted us to develop benzo[b] acronycine analogs possessing an additional aromatic ring linearly fused on the natural alkaloid basic skeleton. When tested against a panel of cancer cell lines in vitro, cis-1,2-dihydroxy-1,2-dihydrobenzo[b] acronycine diesters exhibited cytotoxic activities within the same range of potency as the most active drugs currently used in cancer chemotherapy. In vivo, cis-1,2-diacetoxy-1,2-dihydrobenzo[b] acronycine (S 23906-1), selected for further preclinical development, demonstrated a marked antitumor activity in human orthotopic models of lung, ovarian and colon cancers xenografted in nude mice.