The synthesis of aldophosphamide acetal diacetate and a number of structural analogues is described. These compounds are designed to undergo biotransformation to the corresponding aldehydes in the presence of carboxylate esterases, enzymes that are ubiquitous in mammalian tissue. Several of these aldehydes can theoretically exist in pseudoequilibrium with the 4-hydroxyoxazaphosphorine tautomers; others lack this capability. The half-lives of the acetals in 0.05 M phosphate buffer, pH 7.4, at 37 degrees C ranged from 1 to 2 days. In the presence of 2 unit equiv of porcine liver carboxylate esterase, all of the compounds were hydrolyzed with half-lives of less than 1 min. Although closely structurally related, the compounds exhibited a wide range of cytotoxicities to L1210 murine leukemia cells in vitro.