From hydrolytically labile to hydrolytically stable RuII-arene anticancer complexes with carbohydrate-derived co-ligands

In contrast to their dichlorido counterparts, new RuII-arene complexes with carbohydrate-derived phosphite and biscarboxylato co-ligands resist hydrolysis and do not exhibit significant reactivity towards biomolecules, such as cysteine, methionine, ubiquitin or the DNA model 5′-GMP. This causes important changes in the tumor-inhibiting potency of the compounds.