Novel 6,11-dioxo-6,11-dihydro-benzo[f]pyrido[1,2-a]indole-12-carboxamide derivatives and the corresponding 7,10-dihydroxy analogues were designed in accordance with Moore's and Pindur's theory and synthesized based on the structural similarity with known antitumour agents such as ellipticine, daunorubicin, mitoxantrone and 9-aminoacridine-4 carboxamide derivatives. These compounds, including structural variations of the amide side chain, were evaluated in the NCI panel of human tumour cell lines, from which 6,11-dioxo-6,11-dihydro-benzo[f]pyrido[1,2-a]indole-(2-dimethylamino-ethyl)-12-carboxamide 11a was found to be the most potent agent within the series. It showed good selectivity towards leukaemia, colon and renal cancer cell lines, with significant GI50 values, from lower than 10 nM to 0.2 microM. Moreover, its cytotoxicity against the adriamicine-resistant breast tumour cell line at a concentration lower than 1 microM turned out to be higher than the values using the clinical anticancer agents, daunorubicin and mitoxantrone.