Synthesis, characterization, antimicrobial and antiproliferative studies of some ruthenium complexes

Abstract

Schiff's bases are widely studied due to their synthetic flexibility, selectivity and sensitivity towards the central metal atom and structural similarities with natural biological compounds. The Schiff 's base complexes with transition metals have many applications in material science, medicine, industrial chemistry and pharmaceutical field. Interaction of Ru3(CO)12 with a novel family of monodentate V-shaped Schiff's base ligands (L1-4) {L1 :(E)-1-(4-((4-bromo-benzylidene)amino)-phenyl)ethanone, L2:(E)-1-(3-(4-(dimethylamino)benzylideneamino)phenyl)-ethanone, L3: (E)-1-(4-(4-(dimethylamino) benzylidene amino)phenyl)ethanone, and L4: (E)-1-(3-(3,4-dimethoxy benzylidene amino)phenyl)ethanone} in air under atmospheric pressure afforded the formation of novel complexes [Ru(CO)3(L1-4)2]. The parent ligands and their complexes were characterized by elemental analyses, FT-IR, UV-vis and 1H-NMR spectroscopic techniques. In addition, the structure of the representative ligand (L1) was determined by X-ray single crystal analysis. The stereochemistry and theoretical optimization of the three-dimensional geometry of the ligands and their complexes were justified. In vitro antimicrobial screening against the bacteria stains Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus and the fungus Candida albicans were studied. Cytotoxicity of the compounds were evaluated as antitumor agents on liver carcinoma cell line (HepG2), breast carcinoma cell line (MCF7) and colon carcinoma cell line (CT-116) and compared with cis-platin and doxorubicin. In vitro cytotoxicity of the complexes showed variable activities against the three studied cell lines with IC50 values less than those of cis-platin, which appears as building blocks for promising antitumor agents.