Novel anticancer and antibacterial organometallic polymer based on ferrocene as a building block and xanthone bioactive scaffolds: Synthesis, characterization, and biological study

Poly(azine ferrocene-triazole-xanthone amide) (PAFTXA) was successfully synthesized from azine ferrocene bisacetylene (AFcB) and 2,7-(N-2-azidoacetamide) xanthone (NAzX) by using click chemistry protocol. In this paper, innovative AFcB moiety incorporated in this procedure as a monomer. This monomer was prepared in three steps from ferrocene scaffold, and the synthetic processes were discussed in details. Characterization of the synthesized novel intermediate materials, monomer, and the resulting polymer was performed by nuclear magnetic resonance, Fourier transform infrared, thermal gravimetric analysis, differential scanning calorimetry, and ultraviolet-visible spectrophotometer. In addition, the in vitro antibacterial activity of the polymer was appraised against Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria by using minimum inhibitory concentration method. Moreover; antitumoral effects of synthesized polymer were evaluated on Hela, MCF-7, and Saos cancer cell lines and compared with normal fibroblast cell line by means of 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide assay. Promising antiproliferative effects were detected on both epitheloid and mesenchymal cancer cell lines depending on PAFTXA concentration and time. Survey on its characteristic features revealed the proficiencies of our prepared biomaterial such as its high thermal stability as well as valuable antitumoral and antibacterial capabilities that make it an appreciable candidate for further bioapplications.