Two new families of N,O‐nucleoside analogues containing the anthracene moiety introduced through the nitrosocarbonyl ene reaction with allylic alcohols were prepared. The core structure is an isoxazolidine heterocycle that introduces either atom either a phenyl ring or dimethyl moiety at the C3 carbon. Different heterobases were inserted at the position 5 of the heterocyclic ring. One of the synthesized compounds demonstrated a good capacity to induce cell death and an appreciable nuclear fragmentation was evidenced in treated cells.

The Cover Feature shows the fluorescence microscopy image inserted in a Petri dish of representative slides showing the effects of active isoxazolidine N,O‐nucleoside treatment on U937 cells. The N,O‐nucleoside was prepared through N‐glycosilation (Vorbrüggen protocol) with 6‐chloropurine of the anti‐Markovnikov ene adduct of the anthracene nitrosocarbonyl intermediate with trans‐cinnamyl alcoho. More information can be found in the Full Paper by Andrea Marraffa et al.