Anticancer activity of opened arene ruthenium metalla-assemblies

Cationic tetranuclear and hexanuclear opened metalla-assemblies incorporating 5,15-bis(4-pyridyl)-10,20-diphenylporphyrin (bpp) or 5,10,15-tris(4-pyridyl)-20-phenylporphyrin (tpp) panels and dinuclear arene ruthenium clips [(p-cymene)2Ru2(OO.intrsec.OO)2]2+ (OO.intrsec.OO = oxalato, 2,5-dioxydo-1,4-benzoquinonato (dobq)) have been assembled in the presence of silver triflate. All complexes were characterized by NMR, IR and UV-visible spectroscopy and electrospray ionization mass spectrometry. The cytotoxicities of the tetranuclear and hexanuclear ruthenium complexes have been established on ovarian A2780 and A2780cisR cancer cell lines. The compds. are quite cytotoxic, the most active metalla-assembly being [Ru6(p-cymene)6(dobq)3(tpp)2]6+, with IC50 values of 2.1 μM and 3.8 μM against A2780 and A2780cisR cells, resp.