PR-104 in Treating Patients With Advanced Solid Tumors

DISEASE CHARACTERISTICS: * Histologically or cytologically confirmed solid tumor, meeting 1 of the following criteria: * Not amenable to standard therapy * Refractory to conventional therapy * Measurable or evaluable disease PATIENT CHARACTERISTICS: * Karnofsky performance status 70-100% * Life expectancy \> 3 months * Absolute neutrophil count ≥ 1,500/mm³ * Platelet count ≥ 100,000/mm³ * Hemoglobin \> 9 g/L (transfusion independent) * Bilirubin ≤ 1.5 times upper limit of normal (ULN) * ALT and AST ≤ 2.5 times ULN * Creatinine clearance ≥ 60 mL/min * PT/INR or aPTT ≤ 1.1 times ULN * Not pregnant or nursing * Negative pregnancy test * Fertile patients must use effective contraception during and for 30 days after completion of study treatment * No significant cardiac comorbidity including any of the following: * New York Heart Association class III-IV congenital heart failure * LVEF \< 40% * Unstable angina * Myocardial infarction within the past 6 months * Ventricular arrhythmias requiring drug therapy * Pacemaker or implanted defibrillator * No ongoing coagulopathy * No uncontrolled infection or infection requiring parenteral antibiotics * No other significant clinical disorder or laboratory finding that would preclude study treatment * No known HIV positivity * No known positivity for hepatitis B surface antigen or hepatitis C with abnormal liver tests * No known allergy to nonplatinum-containing alkylating agents PRIOR CONCURRENT THERAPY: * Recovered from prior therapy * More than 2 weeks since prior hormonal therapy (except for androgen-deprivation therapy) * More than 4 weeks since prior major surgery * More than 4 weeks since prior chemotherapy (6 weeks for nitrosoureas or mitomycin C) * More than 4 weeks since prior radiotherapy * More than 1 month since prior investigational drugs, therapies, or devices * No prior radiotherapy to \> 25% of bone marrow * No prior high-dose chemotherapy, either myeloablative or nonmyeloablative (mini-allogeneic transplant) * No more than 3 prior myelosuppressive chemotherapy regimens * Concurrent steroids allowed provided dose is stable for ≥ 2 weeks and clinical condition is stable for 1 month * Nasal, opthalmologic, and topical glucocorticoid preparations allowed * Physiologic hormone replacement therapies allowed (i.e., oral replacement glucocorticoid therapy for adrenal insufficiency) * No concurrent prophylactic hematopoietic growth factors * No concurrent radiotherapy, including local palliative radiotherapy or systemic radioisotopes * Radioisotopes for protocol specified positron emission tomography allowed * No other concurrent investigational agents * No other concurrent chemotherapy, radiotherapy (including palliative local radiotherapy), hormonal therapy (except for androgen-deprivation therapy), and/or biological therapy (including immunotherapy)