5-Trifluoromethyl-2'-deoxyuridine (CF3dUrd), an antitumor agent, is known to be short-lived in human plasma. Since its rapid elimination from the bloodstream seems to have descouraged the clinical evaluation of this drug, we explored the potential use of masked derivatives of CF3dUrd as "depot" forms of the parent compound. First, we observed that the toxicity of CF3dUrd against HeLA cells in culture was 10(4) times greater for a 24-h treatment as compared with a 1-h treatment at identical concentrations of the drug, which suggests the importance of using a prolonged treatment period. In fact, the divided dosing of CF3dUrd to L1210-bearing mice was markedly more effective than its single administration. 5'-O-Hexanoyl-, N3-p-butylbenzoyl-, 5'-O-benzyloxy-methyl-, and 3'-O-benzyl-CF3dUrd were found to be effective in maintaining the CF3dUrd concentration in plasma. The oral doses of these agents required to achieve 50% growth inhibition (ED50) in mice bearing sarcoma 180 tumors were 19, 34, 10, and 13 mg kg-1 day-1, respectively, whereas that of CF3dUrd was 63 mg kg-1 day-1. The ED50 values for these compounds were inversely correlated with the residence time of CF3dUrd in plasma. The therapeutic indices of these compounds, calculated as the dose producing a 50% inhibition of body-weight gain (IB50) divided by the ED50 value (1.89, 1.21, 1.40, and 2.15, respectively), were significantly higher than that of CF3dUrd (0.78). Consequently, these depot forms of CF3dUrd, particularly 3'-O-benzyl-CF3dUrd, are expected to be more useful than the parent compound as antitumor agents.