Schiff bases of aminohydroxyguanidine were designed to contain the essential pharmacophore of hydroxyguanidine and have structural similarity to hydroxyurea, thiosemicarbazone and N-carbamyloxyurea. Most of these compounds have been shown to have antitumor and/ or antiviral activities more potent than hydroxyurea and hydroxyguanidine. Their mode of action is inhibition of ribonucleotide reductase which is the key enzyme in de novo DNA synthesis. Their infrared spectra (IR) are determined and discussed in this paper. Possible applications of the IR data in pharmaceutical analysis are presented.

Key words : infrared spectroscopy, aminohydroxyguanidines, hydroxyurea, Schiff bases