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Updated: Apr 15, 2026

Amide Coupling Reaction for the Synthesis of Bispyridine-based Ligands and Their Complexation to Platinum as Dinuclear Anticancer Agents
Published on: May 28, 2014
Synthesis, characterization and anticancer activity of gold(I) complexes that contain tri-tert-butylphosphine and
Muhammad Altaf1, M Monim-ul-Mehboob2, Adam A A Seliman2
1Center of Excellence in Nanotechnology, King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals, Dhahran 31261, Saudi Arabia.
Abstract:
Two new gold(I) complexes that contain tri-ter-butylphosphine and dialkyl dithiocarbamate ligands were synthesized and characterized by FTIR, NMR spectroscopy, Cyclic voltammetry, elemental analysis and X-ray diffraction. The in vitro cytotoxicity of both complexes was examined against A549 (lung cancer), MCF7 (breast cancer), and HeLa (cervical cancer) human cancer cell lines. Both complexes exhibit very strong in vitro cytotoxic effects against A549, MCF7 and HeLa cell lines. The screening of the cytotoxic activity based on IC50 data against the A549, MCF7, and HeLa lines shows that the synthesized gold(I) complexes are highly effective, particularly against HeLa cancer cell line. Based on IC50 data, the cytotoxic activity of both complexes is better than well-known commercial anticancer drug cisplatin against all the three cancer lines tested.

