Cytotoxicity of ruthenium-N,N-disubstituted-N'-acylthioureas complexes

Five new complexes with general formula [Ru(L_n)(PP)(bipy)]PF₆, where L_n = N,N'-dimethyl-N-Acyl thiourea, and P-P: 1,2-bis(diphenylphosphino)ethane (dppe) or 1,4-bis(diphenylphosphino)butane (dppb)) were synthesized and characterized by elemental analysis, molar conductivity, cyclic voltammetry, IR, NMR (¹H, ¹³C{¹H} and ³¹P{¹H}), and single crystal X-ray diffractometry. The cytotoxicity of compounds against lung and breast tumor cell lines was significant, where two complexes, [Ru(L₃)(bipy)(dppe)]PF₆ (3) and [Ru(L₃)(bipy)(dppb)]PF₆ (6), were selected to evaluate changes in morphology, inhibition of migration and cell death in the MDA-MB-231 lineage. The complexes caused alterations in the cell morphology and were able to inhibit cell migration at the concentrations evaluated, induce the cell cycle arrested in the Sub-G1 phase, and induced cell death by apoptosis. All the complexes presented interaction with HSA, and the interaction studies with DNA suggested weak interactions, probably by the minor groove.