Potential anticancer activity of benzimidazole-based mono/dinuclear Zn(II) complexes towards human carcinoma cells

To investigate the biological activities of Zn(II) complexes, two mono/dinuclear Zn(II) complexes, Zn2(p-2-bmb)2 (NO3)2 (1) and Zn(p-2-bmp)2Cl2 (2), were constructed from V-shape flexible benzimidazole-based ligands. Compared with complex 2, in cytotoxicity research, 1 showed higher cytotoxic properties in vitro against SHSY5Y cells. The interaction of complex 1 with calf thymus DNA is not the classical intercalation binding. Flow cytometry analyses demonstrated that complex 1 arrested the cells in the G0/G1 phase with a dose-dependent manner. In addition, the morphological changes and membrane permeability changes also provide evidence that 1 could induce apoptosis.144