Antiproliferative Water-Soluble Mono- and Binuclear Ruthenium Complexes with Pyridone-Imidazole Ligands.

In this study, we synthesized and characterized new imidazole ligands containing pyridone groups, as well as mononuclear and binuclear ruthenium complexes, which are a new class of water-soluble metallacycles. We studied the antiproliferative activity of these compounds in vitro using the MTT assay on a panel of human cancer cell lines and on primary rat fibroblasts, where we observed a complete absence of cytotoxicity up to a concentration of 1000 µM. For the binuclear metallocycle compounds, we investigated their solubility in water, resistance to hydrolysis, and ability to induce apoptosis in tumor cells.