Five diorganotin(IV)complexes of benzoylformic acid 3-hydroxy-2-naphthoyl hydrazone, [R2SnLY](2) (L = 3-HO-C10H6CON2C(C6H5)CO2) with Y = H2O, R = CH3 (1), Y = EtOH, R = Ph (3), Y = EtOH, R = o-Cl-Bz (4), Y = EtOH, R = o-F-Bz (5), and [R2SnLY] with Y = EtOH, R = n-Bu (2) were prepared, which were structurally characterized by X-ray crystallography, elemental, IR and NMR (H-1 and C-13) spectroscopy. Structural analysis reveal that the ligand presents as tridentate ligand with ONO donors and coordinates to the tin center in an enolic form. Compound 2 is a monomer while the other compounds are weakly bridged dimers with weak Sn...O interactions. In vitro cytotoxicities of compounds 1, 3 and the ligand were determined to explore their potential anticancer activities. DNA-binding properties of 1 and 3 with calf thymus DNA (ct-DNA) were investigated by fluorescence quenching method with ethidium bromide (abbr. EB)-DNA system. Furthermore, the protein fluorescence quenching studies reveal that there are strong binding interactions between compounds 1, 3 and bovine serum albumins (BSA). Synchronous fluorescence spectra show that both the tryptophan and tyrosine residues in BSA are affected by the two compounds. (C) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.