Platinum(II) complexes with mono-aminophosphonate ester targeting group that induce apoptosis through G1 cell-cycle arrest: synthesis, crystal structure and antitumour activity.

Six new platinum(II) complexes with mono-aminophosphonate ester were synthesized and characterized by elemental analysis, (1)H NMR, ESI-MS as well as single crystal X-ray diffraction analysis. They are mononuclear structures. In all the crystal structures of complexes 1-6, the platinum centre adopts an approximately square-planar geometry, which were found to possess excellent solubility in both organic solvents and water and exhibit considerable cytotoxicity against MG-63, SK-OV-3 and HepG2 cell lines, but low cytotoxicity towards normal human liver cell HL-7702. In contrast to cisplatin, their antitumour activities are achieved through the induction of cell apoptosis by G1 cell-cycle arrest.