Several series of compounds containing the 1, 4-dioxo-2-butenyl moiety have been prepared as candidate cytotoxins, including the methyl N-arylmaleamates, methyl N- arylfumaramates, and N-arylmaleimides. In addition, the N-arylisomaleimides were synthesized which are the structural isomers of N-arylmaleimides. These compounds were evaluated against human Molt 4/C8 and CEM T-lymphocytes as well as murine L1210 ...