Ruthenium(II) piano stool coordination compounds with aminomethylphosphanes: Synthesis, characterisation and preliminary biological study in vitro.

Reaction of {Ru(η-p-cymene)Cl} (1) with aminomethylphosphane derived from morpholine (P{CHN(CHCH)O} (A), PPh{CHN(CHCH)O} (B)) or piperazine (P{CHN(CHCH)NCHCH} (C), PPh{CHN(CHCH)NCHCH} (D)) results in four new piano stool ruthenium(II) coordination compounds: [Ru(η-p-cymene)Cl(A)] (2A), [Ru(η-p-cymene)Cl(B)] (2B), [Ru(η-p-cymene)Cl(C)] (2C) and [Ru(η-p-cymene)Cl(D)] (2D). Every complex was fully characterized using spectroscopic methods (H, C{H}, P{H} NMR and ESI-MS), elemental analysis, X-ray single crystal diffraction and DFT calculations. Preliminary studies of in vitro cytotoxicity on the A549 (human lung adenocarcinoma) and MCF7 (human breast adenocarcinoma) cell lines revealed 2A-2D activity in the same order of magnitude as in the case of cisplatin. Additionally, the study confirmed the ability of 2A-2D to interact with DNA helix and transferrin.