Design, synthesis and comparative cytotoxic investigation of platinum(II) complexes with some derivatives of 5-methyl-5-(4-pyridyl)hydantoin

The cytotoxic activity of the new Pt(II) compounds in a panel of human tumor cell lines was juxtaposed to that of previously synthesized analogues. Cytotoxicity of the investigated complexes showed to be strongly dependent on their lipophilicity. The most prominent compound, featuring 3-benzyl-5-methyl-5-(4-pyridyl)hydantoin as carrier ligand, inhibits the viability of tested cells at low micromolar concentrations with IC50 values comparable to that of cisplatin. The cis- and trans-mixed am(m)ine complexes with general formula [PtL(NH3)Cl2] exhibited far less cytotoxicity than their analogue, featuring the same organic ligand (cis-[PtL2Cl2]).