Synthesis, spectroscopic characterization and in vitro antitumor activities of some novel mononuclear Ru(II) complexes

The synthesis and spectroscopic characterization of ruthenium complexes (R-1 to R-8) of the type [Ru(A)2(B)], (where A = 1,10-phenanthroline/2,2′-bipyridine and B = 3,4,5-tri-OCH3-DPC, 4-CH3-DPC, 4-N-(CH3)2-DPC, 4-NO2-DPC are described. These ligands form bidentate octahedral ruthenium complexes. The title complexes were subjected to in vitro cytotoxic activity measurements against the human cancer T-lymphocyte cell lines MTT assay. In vitro evaluation of these ruthenium complexes revealed cytotoxic activity from 0.24 to 1.4 μg/mL against CEM, 0.44 to 1.9 μg/mL against Molt4/C8, 0.28 to 1.5 μg/mL against L1210, 0.24 to 0.98 μg/mL against HL60, and 0.25 to 1.2 μg/mL against BEL7402, depending the nature of the compound.