Fluorinated Cycloplatinated(II) Complexes Bearing Bisphosphine Ligands as Potent Anticancer Agents

A family of cationic cycloplatinated(II) complexes [Pt(dfppy)(P^P)]Cl, dfppy = 2-(2,4-difluorophenyl)pyridine, incorporating bisphosphine ligands, P^P = bis(diphenylphosphino)methane (1, dppm), 1,2-bis(diphenylphosphino)ethane (2, dppe) and 1,2-bis(diphenylphosphino)benzene (3, dppbz), was prepared. The complexes were characterized by means of several analytical and spectroscopic methods. These complexes displayed acceptable stability in the biological environments which was confirmed by NMR, HR ESI-MS and UV-vis techniques. The antiproliferative properties of these complexes were evaluated by National Cancer Institute (NCI) at National Institutes of Health (NIH) against 60 different human tumor cell lines such as leukemia, melanoma, lung, colon, brain, ovary, breast, prostate and kidney. These complexes showed higher cytotoxicity than cisplatin against a wide variety of cancer cell lines such as K-562 (leukemia), HOP-92 (lung), HCT-116 (colon), OVCAR-8 (ovarian), PC-3 (prostate), MDA-MB-468 (breast), and melanoma cancer cell lines. Complex 3 as the most potent compound in this study furnished an excellent anti-proliferative activity compared to the cisplatin against Hela, SKOV3, and MCF-7 cancer cell lines. The main mode of the interaction of 1-3 with DNA was also determined using molecular docking studies.