A series of new quinoline, quinolone, and quinazolinedione derivatives was synthesized and tested for retinoid activity in the human promyelocytic cell line HL-60 differentiation assay. All the quinoline compounds exhibited significant activity, depending on the substituent on the heterocycle. However, the quinolone and quinazolinedione derivatives were poor inducers of the differentiation of the HL-60 cells, the activity depending strongly on the polarity of the molecule.