A series of benzoyl and cinnamoyl nitrogen mustards tethered to different benzoheterocycles and to oligopyrroles structurally related to netropsin consisting of two pyrrole-amide units and terminating with an amidine moiety have been synthesised and a structure–activity relationship determined. Derivatives 3–10 have been evaluated for their sequence selective alkylating properties and cytotoxicity against human K562 leukaemia ...