Synthesis, X-ray structure of organometallic ruthenium (II) p-cymene complexes based on P- and N- donor ligands and their in vitro antibacterial and anticancer studies

Two new arene compounds containing bis-diphosphinomethane (dppm) and tert-butylpyridine (tbp) ligands as important components in ruthenium(II) complexes were synthesized and characterized by Xray crystallography, and spectroscopy of H-1 NMR, C-13 NMR, 2D-NMR, FTIR and CHN analysis. The synthesized complexes were evaluated in vitro as anticancer agents of human breast cancer cell lines, MCF-7 and HCC1937, using the MTT assay. Both complexes showed an interesting behavior especially the compound of [Ru(p-cymene) (dppm) Cl-2]. It exhibited anticancer activity against both tested cell lines with greater IC50 values than cisplatin against all breast cancer cells. Both MCF-7 and HCC1937 cells exhibited 16-fold sensitivity to the [Ru(p-cymene)(dppm) Cl-2] compared to cisplatin. Furthermore, the [Ru(p-cymene)(dppm) Cl-2] complex significantly inhibited both Staphylococcus aureus ATCC25923 and MRSA = methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus with MIC/MBC values of 8/200 mg mL(-1) and 32/128 mg mL(-1), respectively. In addition, it showed inhibition activity on Cryptococcus neoformans ATCC90113 flucytosine -resistant, CN90113, with an MIC/MBC value of 64/128 mg mL(-1). (C) 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.