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Updated: Dec 31, 2025

Anticancer Metal Complexes: Synthesis and Cytotoxicity Evaluation by the MTT Assay
Published on: November 10, 2013
Organometallic nucleoside analogues: effect of the metallocene metal atom on cancer cell line toxicity
Media K Ismail1, Katie A Armstrong2, Samantha L Hodder2
1School of Chemistry, University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham, B15 2TT, UK. j.tucker@bham.ac.uk.
Abstract:
A new chiral organometallic nucleoside analogue containing ruthenocene is reported, in which alkylthymine and alkylhydroxyl groups are attached in adjacent positions on one cyclopentadienyl ring. The synthetic procedures for this metallocene derivative and two control compounds are described, along with their characterisation by cyclic voltammetry and X-ray crystallography. Their biological activities in a human pancreatic cancer cell line (MIA-Pa-Ca-2) were significantly lower than those of three previously reported analogous ferrocene compounds, indicating that the choice of metallocene metal atom (Fe or Ru) plays a pivotal role in determining the anticancer properties of these nucleoside analogues, which in turn suggests a different mode of action from that of a conventional nucleoside analogue.
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