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Updated: Apr 6, 2026

Anticancer Metal Complexes: Synthesis and Cytotoxicity Evaluation by the MTT Assay
Published on: November 10, 2013
Anticancer Organometallic Osmium(II)-p-cymene Complexes
Emilia Păunescu1, Patrycja Nowak-Sliwinska1,2, Catherine M Clavel1
1Institut des Sciences et Ingénierie Chimiques, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, 1015 Lausanne (Switzerland).
Abstract:
Osmium compounds are attracting increasing attention as potential anticancer drugs. In this context, a series of bifunctional organometallic osmium(II)-p-cymene complexes functionalized with alkyl or perfluoroalkyl groups were prepared and screened for their antiproliferative activity. Three compounds from the series display selectivity toward cancer cells, with moderate cytotoxicity observed against human ovarian carcinoma (A2780) cells, whereas no cytotoxicity was observed on non-cancerous human embryonic kidney (HEK-293) cells and human endothelial (ECRF24) cells. Two of these three cancer-cell-selective compounds induce cell death largely via apoptosis and were also found to disrupt vascularization in the chicken embryo chorioallantoic membrane (CAM) model. Based on these promising properties, these compounds have potential clinical applications.
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