A series of complexes of the type rac-cis-beta-[Ru(N-4-TL)(N-2-bidentates)](2+) (where N-4-TL = 1,6-di(2'-pyridyl)-2,5-dibenzyl-2,5-diazahexane (picenBz(2), N-4-T-L-2) and N-2-bidentates = 1,10-phenanthroline (phen, Ru-2), dipyrido [3,2-d:2',3'[-f]quinoxaline (dpq, Ru-3), 7,8-dimethyl-dipyrido[3,2-a:2;,3'-c] phenazine (dppzMe2, Ru-4), 2phenyl-1H-imidazo[4,5-f][1,10]phenanthroline (phenpyrBz, Ru-5), 2-(p-tolyl)-1H-imidazo[4,5-f][1,10]phenan-throline (phenpyrBzMe, Ru-6), 2-(4-nitrophenyl)-1H-imidazo[4,5-f][1,10]phenanthroline (phenpyrBzNO(2), Ru7), were synthesised and characterised and X-ray crystallography of Ru-5 obtained. The in vitro cytotoxicity assays revealed that Ru-6 was 5, 2 and 19-fold more potent than oxaliplatin, cisplatin, and carboplatin, respectively displaying an average GI(50) value of approximate to 0.76 mu M against a panel of 11 cancer cell lines.