Important cytotoxicity of novel iron(II) cyclopentadienyl complexes with imidazole based ligands

• New family of “FeCp” half sandwich complexes containing imidazole ligands.
• High cytotoxic activity against three human cancer cell lines (A2780, MCF7, HeLa).
• Reversibility of Fe(II)/Fe(III) shows the interest as bioreductive prodrugs.

Four new compounds of general formula [FeCp(dppe)L][CF3SO3] with L = imidazole substituted ligands, and dppe = ethylenebis(diphenylphosphane) have been synthesized and characterized with the aim to evaluate their anticancer properties. The new compounds were fully characterized by spectroscopic and electrochemical methods and the structure of [Fe(η5-C5H5)(dppe)(1-BuIm)] [CF3SO3] (1), [Fe(η5-C5H5)(dppe) (ImH)][CF3SO3] (3) and [Fe(η5-C5H5)(dppe)(1HmIm)][CF3SO3] (4) (where 1-BuIm = 1-butylimidazole, and 1HmIm = N-hydroxymethylimidazole) was determined by X-ray diffraction studies. Apparently, these compounds are the first reported ‘Fe(η5-C5H5)’ half sandwich derivatives presenting high cytotoxic activity against a set a human tumor cell lines predicting their potential value as antitumor drugs.

New “FeCp” half sandwich complexes containing imidazole ligands revealed high cytotoxic activity against three human cancer cell lines.Figure optionsDownload as PowerPoint slide