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Updated: Sep 23, 2025

Anticancer Metal Complexes: Synthesis and Cytotoxicity Evaluation by the MTT Assay
Published on: November 10, 2013
Self-assembly synthesis of diorganotin complexes based on arylformylhydrazone possessing ONO donor set: anticancer
Wujiu Jiang1, Zhijian Zhang1, Penghui Ni1
1Key Laboratory of Functional Metal-Organic Compounds of Hunan Province, Key Laboratory of Organometallic New Materials, College of Hunan Province, Hunan Provincial Engineering Research Center for Monitoring and Treatment of Heavy Metals Pollution in the Upper Reaches of XiangJiang River, College of Chemistry and Materials Science, Hengyang Normal University, Hengyang, Hunan 421008, China.
Abstract:
Fourteen new organotin(IV) complexes were successfully synthesized and characterized by elemental analyses, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), multinuclear (1H, 13C, and 119Sn) NMR spectroscopy, high-resolution mass spectrometry (HRMS), and X-ray single-crystal techniques. Crystallographic data showed that the complexes 1b, 2b, 3b, and 5b were macrocyclic compounds, 4b exhibited a one-dimensional spiral chain structure with distorted trigonal bipyramidal geometry, other complexes were centrosymmetric dimers, and there was an Sn2O2 four-membered ring in the middle of the molecule. In-vitro anticancer activity against the three human tumor cell lines NCI-H460, MCF-7, and HepG2 was studied, and the dibutyltin complex 5a is a more potent antitumor agent than other complexes and cisplatin. Cell apoptosis study of 5a with the highest activity on HepG2 cancer cell lines was done by flow cytometry; it was shown that the antitumor activity of 5a was related to apoptosis, and it inhibited proliferation by blocking cells in the G2/M phase. The single-cell gel electrophoresis assay results show that 5a induces DNA damage. 5a interacts with ct-DNA by intercalating the mode of interaction. UV-visible absorption spectrometry, fluorescence competitive, viscosity measurements, and gel electrophoresis results also support the intercalative mode of interaction for 5a with DNA.
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